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Wm.  H.  Theobald. 


Defrauding  the 
Government 


True  Tales  of  Smuggling,   from  the  Note-book 

of  a  Confidential  Agent  of  the 

United  States  Treasury 


BY 

WILLIAM   H.  THEOBALD 


MYRTLE  PUBLISHING  CO. 

1   West  34.th  St.,  New  York 
1908 


Copyright,  1908,  by 
MYRTLE  PUBLISHING   CO. 

New  York 


-frj 

T34  ^ 


to  the  memory  of  one  op 
god's  noblemen 

STsaac  ^aacnberj 

STAUNCH,     HONEST    AND    TRUE 

THIS    BOOK    IS 

DEDICATED 


"none  but  himself  can  be  HIS  parallel' 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface  '      v 

The  Lasar  Diamond  Case 1 

Mrs.  Miles'  Pearl  Necklace 229 

Why  Might  Is  Right,  and  When 264 

The  Lejeune  Jewels 302 

Professional  Smuggler 322 

The  Cassie  Chad  wick  Case 324 

Smuggling  a  Wedding  Present 343 

Mrs.  Rubins  and  Her  Linens 347 

Undervaluation  of  Merchandise 352 

What  the  Government  Demands 356 

Robbing  the  Mail  on  the  High  Seas 364 

The  Leinkram  Diamonds 369 

Smuggling  of  Drugs 416 

How  Rich  Men  Smuggle 420 

Necklace  Smuggled  in  Her  Muff 426 

The  Maximilian  Jewels 429 

How  Smugglers  Smuggle 435 

The  Dressmaker's  Way 452 

Mrs.  Root's  Laces 464 

The  Frank  Diamonds 470 

He  Used  His  Friend 475 

The  Bock  Pearls 483 

Why  Informers  Are  Dangerous 487 

The  Anonymous  Letter- Writer 495 


PREFACE 

"Happy  were  men  if  they  but  understood 
There  is  no  safety  but  in  doing  good." 

It  is  no  easy  matter  to  hazard  a  guess  why  so 
many  wealthy  people  smuggle.  That  it  is  a  love  of 
gain  is  no  more  certain  than  is  the  belief  that  these 
same  daughters  or  sons  of  wealth  defraud  the 
Government  because  they  just  cannot  help  steal- 
ing. And  smuggling,  to  my  mind,  is  a  low  form  of 
theft.  Deprived  of  their  riches,  some  of  these 
cheats  of  a  great  Government  would  be  classed  as 
common  culprits,  and  doubtless  many  of  them 
would  end  their  days  in  some  State's  prison  for 
pocket-picking,  sneak  thievery  or  some  equally 
low-blooded  crime.  Money  alone  keeps  many  of 
them  from  committing  these  inferior  offenses. 

I  always  feel  "a  blush  of  shame"  when  I  see 
a  customs  inspector  rummaging  among  the  con- 
tents of  a  clergyman's  luggage.  It  does  not  seem 
right  that  the  cloth  should  be  thus  questioned,  that 
the  personal  effects  of  the  returning  minister, 
priest  or  rabbi,  as  the  case  may  be,  should  be  sub- 
jected to  the  ordeal  of  a  triple  extract  of  investi- 
gation by  those  who  are  paid  to  collect  Uncle 
Sam's  revenues;  but  society  is  responsible  for  this 


vi  PREFACE 

condition  of  affairs.  From  such  specimen  bricks 
one  is,  unliappilj^  too  prone  to  judge  the  quality 
of  building  material. 

Smuggling  has  been  a  thorn  in  official  sides  for 
centuries.  If  one  were  to  delve  into  the  ancestry 
of  some  of  the  richest  men  of  England  and  France, 
it  would  be  discovered  that  the  foundations  of 
their  wealth  were  laid  through  the  unlawful  traffic 
of  dutiable  goods  across  the  English  Channel. 
Yet  it  is  an  uncommon  thing  for  the  latter-day 
smuggler  to  accumulate  riches  in  his  nefarious 
pursuit.  I  know  of  at  least  a  dozen  men  who,  al- 
though for  years  identified  with  the  illicit  intro- 
duction of  precious  stones,  are  now  dependent  up- 
on others  for  tlieir  livelihood. 

Take  the  case  of  Max  J.  Lasar,  for  instance.  He 
made  money  fast  enough  for  a  time  through  his 
regularity  in  defrauding  the  United  States.  He 
was  long  suspected,  and  finally  caught.  To-day 
he  is  a  beggar,  or  practically  so.  Every  penny  of 
his  ill-gotten  gains  was  spent  by  him  and  his  rela- 
tives in  an  attempt  to  keep  him  outside  prison 
bars.  His  arrest  and  trial  attracted  worldwide 
attention. 

General  Wellington,  the  prosecuting  attorney, 
says  that  Lasar 's  was  the  greatest  case  the  Govern- 
ment ever  had  to  deal  with.  It  certainly  was  inter- 
esting as  showing  the  impossibility  of  continued 
success  in  the  trade  of  siuuggling.  Smuggling  was 
nothing  more  or  less  than  a  trade  with  Lasar.    He 


PREFACE  vii 

died  in  poverty  in  Bohemia  a  few  years  ago^  and 
for  years  before  his  death  he  was  among  the 
''down  and  out,"  as  the  expression  prevails,  and 
so  are  many  others  who  robbed  the  revenue  for 
years.  Still  I  believe  that  smuggling  will  always 
remain  with  us  so  long  as  we  have  a  revenue,,  a  so- 
ciety woman  and  a  man  of  easy  virtue.  Men  do 
not  usually  smuggle  for  their  wives.  I  have 
learned  they  frequently  "honor"  their  mistresses 
by  doing  so. 

In  the  pages  that  follow  I  have  given  the  stories 
of  big  smuggling  by  big  smugglers  as  I  have  found 
them.  I  have  made  no  attempt  at  elegance  in  re- 
lating the  various  events,  incidents  and  episodes. 
Neither  have  I  taken  the  fire  of  other  smuggler 
catchers,  but  have  adhered  strictly  to  a  relation 
of  those  cases  in  which  I  was  directly  concerned. 
I  have  not  detailed  any  of  the  smaller  attempts  at 
fraud.  Space  would  not  permit  my  handling  of 
their  great  number. 

I  have  recorded  each  case  as  faithfully  as  pos- 
sible, taking  no  sides,  and  presenting  the  whole 
without  any  desire  to  veneer  or  blacken  this  cul- 
prit or  that.  My  operations  were  frequently  as- 
sailed, particularly  by  influential  and  wealthy  men 
whom  I  brought  to  judgment.  One  of  these  made 
an  attempt  on  my  life.  But  I  have  treated  him 
none  the  worse  for  that. 

Another  who  swore  he  would  have  me  removed 
from  my  position  in  the  Government,  because  I 


Vlll 


PREFACE 


caught  him  as  a  common  smuggler,  used  his  mflu- 
ence  to  have  me  officially  decapitated,  but  did  not 
succeed  Yet  I  have  treated  him  kindly  m  the 
record  of  his  attempt  to  rob  Uncle  Sam. 

I  have  seen  so  many  dishonest  men  m  my  day 
that  I  cannot  refrain  from  saying,  with  Pope: 
"A  wit's  a  feather,  and  a  chiefs  a  rod; 
An  honest  man's  the  noblest  work  of  God." 

W.  H.  T. 
New  Yobk,  July,  1908. 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE 

CHAPTER  I 

If  Max  J.  Lasar  had  remained  faithful  to  his 
spouse,  he  might  have  continued  with  the  dishon- 
orable honor  of  being  the  champion  professional 
smuggler  of  the  world.  But  he  had  a  deluding 
sophistry  that  he  tried  to  believe,  and  it  was  in  a 
great  measure  his  undoing.  He  thought,  like 
many  another  man,  that  his  wife's  love  could 
thrive  as  well  in  the  shade  as  in  the  sunshine,  but 
he  forgot,  among  other  things,  the  important  fact 
that,  while  a  woman  in  love  is  sometimes  the  blind- 
est of  human  beings,  she  is  always  the  sharpest  of 
clairvoyants.  He  had  quite  a  few  love  affairs, 
had  this  great  smuggler,  but  his  wife,  who  wanted 
for  nothing  except  love  and  a  little  attention,  knew 
nothing  of  these,  bless  her  soul ! 

Every  time  that  he  went  to  his  legal  home  it 
was  with  the  supreme  knowledge  that  he  had  done 
nothing  that  his  wife  knew,  and  when  her  love  be- 
gan to  cool  and  her  eyes  welled  up  with  tears  he 
wondered  what  was  the  matter.  Of  course,  he  had 
secrets.    Mrs.  Lasar  did  not  know  of  this  folly  or 

1 


2   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

that  escapade,  or  where  he  was  the  last  night  he 
remained  away  from  home.  What,  then,  could  be 
the  matter  with  her?  He  asked  the  question  of 
himself  many  times, 

Lasar  was  not  a  bright  man,  save  as  a  smuggler, 
and  he  never  had  heard  of  a  system  of  telegraphy 
between  souls.  Some  may  dispute  that  there  is 
any  such  system  of  wireless  telegraj^hy,  but  that 
is  a  matter  of  little  concern  just  here.  ]\[rs.  Lasar 
did  not  know  absolutely,  but  she  felt  in  her  bones, 
maybe,  or  perhaps  it  was  mere  everyday  demo- 
cratic intuition  that  made  her  believe  that  her 
husband  was  doing  wrong.  At  all  events,  she  was 
right,  and,  following  the  advice  of  several  of  her 
friends,  she  applied  for  a  divorce. 

It  was  the  knowledge  of  the  institution  of  this 
divorce,  and  another  happening,  that  caused  me 
to  ''form"  the  acquaintance  of  Lasar.  I  was 
lunching  in  the  cafe  of  the  Savarin  one  day,  when, 
without  any  desire  on  my  part,  I  heard  a  heated 
discussion  as  to  the  smuggling  of  diamonds.  Nat- 
urally, I  was  interested,  and  could  not  resist  the 
impulse  to  turn  around  to  see  who  were  the  prin- 
cipals in  the  argument.  I  recognized  one  as  an  old 
acquaintance,  who  was  in  the  diamond  business. 
His  remarks  about  smuggling  were  so  pungent 
and  clear-headed  that  I  determined  to  call  upon 
him  at  the  earliest  opportunity.  This  I  did  that 
same  afternoon. 

I  told  him  that  I  had  been  detailed  by  the  Secre- 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  3 

tary  of  the  Treasury  to  look  after  tlie  unlawful  im- 
portation of  precious  stones.  He  had  not  seen  me 
at  the  Savarin  that  day,  but  he  remarked  that  it 
was  odd  that  I  should  visit  him  just  then,  for  the 
reason  that  he  had  had  that  day  an  animated  dis- 
cussion with  an  intimate  friend  who  was  inclined 
to  shield  several  of  his  friends  who  were  supposed 
to  be  smugglers. 

This  diamond  merchant  asked  me  if  I  desired  to 
meet  some  of  the  members  of  the  trade.  I  told  him 
it  would  be  of  incalculable  benefit  to  the  Govern- 
ment and  myself.  He  then  took  me  to  the  offices  of 
several  firms.  It  was  at  one  of  these  interviews 
that  the  name  of  Lasar  came  up. 

''I  knew  that  man  for  years  as  a  smuggler  of 
diamonds,"  said  a  merchant  at  one  of  the  con- 
ferences. "He  is  as  bold  as  a  sewer  rat.  There 
is  not  a  question  but  that  he  imports  surrepti- 
tiously each  year  many  thousands'  worth  of  pre- 
cious gems." 

I  volunteered  to  try  to  catch  Lasar.  My  plan 
was  to  land  the  fish  through  the  agency  of  one  or 
more  of  his  supposed  friends,  and  the  first  thing 
that  I  did  was  to  inquire  into  his  wife's  divorce 
proceedings,  and  also  into  the  characters  of  his 
relatives. 

I  learned  within  a  few  hours  that  Mrs.  Lasar 
was  a  daughter  of  Frederick  Buckner,  of  the  firm 
of  F.  Buckner  &  Son,  the  Fifth  Avenue  jewelers, 
and  that,  while  her  faithless  spouse  did  not  at- 


4   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

tempt  to  deceive  her  in  some  things,  he  never  kept 
her  posted  on  matters  concerning  his  illicit  rela- 
tions with  the  Government. 

Lasar  was  as  big  a  coward  as  he  was  a  knave. 
He  was  afraid  to  bring  in  on  his  own  person  the 
valuable  stones  that  he  purchased  abroad,  so  he 
used  his  brother's  wife  as  a  cloak.  This  I  learned 
inside  of  twenty-four  hours  after  I  volunteered 
to  run  him  down.  It  has  been  said  of  the  man 
that  he  had  personally  brought  in  jewels  on  whicli 
he  failed  to  pay  duty ;  but,  try  as  I  might,  I  failed 
to  get  accurate  information  that  would  lead  to  any 
conclusive  proof  of  his  having  done  so.  He  gen- 
erally trusted  to  a  second  party  to  hold  the  centre 
of  the  stage  in  this  proceeding,  and  the  method 
helped  to  make  his  downfall  the  more  comj^lete. 

I  will  say  of  Mrs.  Lasar  that,  while  she  was  per- 
fectly willing  at  times  to  discuss  the  marital  infe- 
licities of  her  husband,  she  would  at  no  time  enter 
into  any  conversation  as  to  his  business.  This 
seems  strange,  too,  considering  the  intense  feeling 
of  disgust  with  which  she  received  his  name  once 
she  absolutely  realized  that  her  fears  as  to  his  im- 
proprieties were  only  too  true.  Yet  it  was  not 
strange  that  she  should  remain  silent. 

The  sister-in-law  of  Lasar  was  frequently  seen 
at  the  Windsor  and  St.  George  hotels  in  Montreal, 
and  usually  about  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  steam- 
ers from  Liverpool.    She  was  the  real  go-between 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  5 

in  the  illicit  game.  She  was  clever  to  a  degree,  but 
she  unwittingly  helped  a  good  deal  in  bringing  the 
man  to  justice.  I  had  received  carte  blanche  from 
Collector  of  the  Port  Bidwell  to  proceed  with  my 
investigation,  and  making  the  sister-in-law  of  La- 
sar  believe  that  I  had  dropped  the  case,  I  went  off 
on  another  tack,  in  search  of  information. 

I  learned  that  because  of  his  wife's  divorce  pro- 
ceedings, and  for  other  private  reasons,  Lasar 
made  a  business  of  living  at  two  hotels  at  the  one 
time  in  any  town  in  which  he  stopped.  He  imag- 
ined that  it  would  be  impossible  for  anybody  to  ex- 
pose him  so  long  as  he  played  Dr.  Jekyll  at  one 
hotel  and  Mr.  Hyde  at  another,  in  a  different  part 
of  the  town. 

Mrs.  Lasar  lived  in  a  palatial  house  in  the  up- 
per part  of  Manhattan,  while  her  husband,  when 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  metropolis,  usually  stopped 
at  the  Washington  and  Taylor's  hotels  in  Jersey 
City,  just  across  the  river.  Being  in  New  Jersey, 
he  was  practically  out  of  the  jurisdiction  of  a  New 
York  legal  process.  It  transpired  during  the 
course  of  the  preliminary  investigation  that  La- 
sar, who  had  offices  at  No.  —  Maiden  Lane,  in  New 
York,  visited  them  but  once  during  six  weeks  that 
he  spent  in  Jersey  City,  a  young  man  in  his  employ 
bringing  him  his  mail  and  taking  back  smuggled 
gems,  it  is  supposed. 

It  is  a  strange  thing,  but  nevertheless  true,  that 
a  number  of  the  best  known,  but  not  highly  re- 


6   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

puted,  firms  in  the  diamond  district  were  the  me- 
diums through  which  the  man  disposed  of  his 
wares;  and  it  is  also  strange,  though  not  as  re- 
markable, that  these  same  people  were  the  loudest 
in  their  protestations  against  the  illegal  introduc- 
tion into  the  country  of  dutiable  goods.  Lasar 
made  tools  of  many,  big  and  little,  but  these  "hon- 
est merchants  and  churchgoers"  made  a  willing 
tool  of  him. 

His  chief  middleman,  however,  was  his  own 
brother,  Morris,  who,  with  the  latter 's  wife,  Sarah, 
played  a  star  part  in  the  sensational  develop- 
ments of  the  case.  Morris  Lasar  posed  as  a 
genial  boniface.  He  pointed  with  pride  to  his  pro- 
prietary interest  in  the  Pavonia  Hotel,  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Chambers  and  Washington  streets,  in  Man- 
hattan, though  in  reality  it  was  nothing  more  than 
a  saloon-intended  to  get  around  the  objectionable 
Raines  Law  during  certain  restricted  hours  and 
on  the  Sabbath.  Smuggler  Lasar  usually  arrived 
in  Montreal  from  Europe  about  the  time  that  his 
interesting  sister-in-law  came  up  from  New  York. 

I  had  been  steadily  at  work  on  the  case  for  more 
than  a  month,  without  learning  anything  of  a 
really  incriminating  nature  against  the  man,  when 
I  determined  to  make  a  ten-strike  or  go  a  cropper. 
There  were  two  individuals,  John  Alaxwell  and 
James  Anustrong,  who  claimed  to  be  partners, 
but  who  wore  really  representatives,  of  Max  J. 
Lasar.    All  merchandise  that  was  owmed  by  him 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  7 

was  sold  under  the  name  of  Maxwell  &  Arm- 
strong, and  I  learned  that  one  was  his  salesman 
and  the  other  his  bookkeeper. 

I  considered  Maxwell  the  weaker  of  the  two, 
and  as  I  was  looking  for  vulnerable  parts  in  this 
dangerous  fleet,  I  went  sailing  after  this  particular 
craft  in  the  squadron.  Maxwell  knew  me  by  sight, 
and  for  that  reason  I  realized  that  I  would  be  un- 
able to  sail  under  false  colors.  I  drew  his  fire  by 
appearing  at  his  home  on  100th  Street,  in  New 
York,  before  he  arose  one  morning.  I  met  the 
elder  Mr.  Maxwell  at  the  door,  and  he  asked  me  to 
wait  in  the  dining-room  while  his  son  was  prepar- 
ing his  toilet.  The  son  turned  as  white  as  a  piece 
of  chalk  when  he  saw  me,  and  I  then  felt  satisfied 
that  I  had  planted  my  first  shot  in  a  vital  part. 

The  fact  that  the  elder  Maxwell  was  in  the 
doorway  behind  him  calmed  the  young  man  some- 
what, but  he  was  not  prepared  for  the  galling  fire 
that  I  put  into  him  in  the  form  of  personal  ques- 
tions the  next  few  minutes  that  followed.  I  did 
not  spare  him  a  particle.    This  is  what  I  said : 

''I  have  positive  proof  that  you  have  been  sell- 
ing smuggled  goods  for  a  number  of  years.  I  have 
been  sent  to  you  by  the  Collector  of  the  Port  to  say 
that,  according  to  the  customs  laws,  you  are 
equally  as  guilty  of  committing  a  crime  against 
the  Government  as  is  Max  J.  Lasar.  The  man 
who  sells  goods  fraudulently  imported  is  every  bit 
as  guilty  as  the  man  who  purchases  them  and 


8   DEFEAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

brings  them  in  free  of  duty.    I  want  to  warn  you 
that  you  must  stojD  the  business. ' ' 

"For  God's  sake,  John,  do  not  tell  that  man  any- 
thing," said  the  elder  Maxwell,  coming  forward 
and  touching  his  son  on  the  arm. 

"I  know  who  this  man  is,  father,"  replied  the 
young  man, ' '  and  I  am  going  to  tell  him  the  whole 
story." 

The  breath  was  nearly  knocked  out  of  my  body 
when  I  heard  this.  I  could  scarcely  believe  my 
ears.  I  know  that  my  face  must  have  turned  color, 
but  it  was  not  noticed  by  either  of  the  men,  and 
it  is  lucky  for  me  that  it  was  not.  I  thought  that 
I  noticed  the  older  man  reach  back  to  his  hip 
pocket,  and  I  stepped  forward  to  be  on  my  guard. 
I  must  have  been  mistaken,  however. 

"The  young  man  is  right,"  I  said,  addressing 
his  father.  "He  will  do  the  proper  thing  in  tell- 
ing me  all  that  he  knows  in  this  matter. ' ' 
.  Even  as  I  spoke  I  doubted  that  the  man  would 
'fulfil  his  promise.  It  seemed  altogether  too  good 
to  be  true.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  I  had, 
up  to  that  time,  been  working  for  several  months 
on  the  case,  and  that  I  had  not  an  atom  of  evidence 
against  any  of  the  Lasars.  The  Government  up 
to  that  time  was  completely  at  his  mercy. 

A  little  woman,  with  a  tiny  rosebud  in  her  hair 
and  a  big  rolling-pin  in  her  doll-like  hand,  came 
upon  the  scene  at  this  moment,  and  I  immediately 
divined  that  there  were  rocks  ahead.    She  was  the 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  9 

wife  of  John  Maxwell,  and  it  was  evident  that  she 
was  the  master  of  the  craft,  and  that  she  did  not 
place  much  dependence  in  theories  or  hypotheses. 

She  held  her  other  baby-sized  hand  behind  her, 
but  as  I  failed  to  observe  any  steam  arising  from 
that  direction,  I  breathed  easier.  I  am  not  fond 
of  hot  water  when  it  is  in  a  steaming  kettle.  I 
was  trying  to  get  her  range,  in  anticipation  of  a 
broadside  of  abuse,  when  I  found  in  the  next  in- 
stant that  my  apprehensions  were  as  uncalled  for 
as  were  my  first  impressions  of  the  woman  unjust. 
Amid  a  broadside  of  joy  I  heard  her  say: 

' '  Take  the  gentleman  into  the  parlor,  dear.  The 
dining-room  is  no  place  to  receive  guests  at  seven 
in  the  morning." 

She  said  it  as  sweetly  as  an  angel  would  smile, 
and  I  knew  that  I  would  not  have  to  go  into  dock 
and  refit  on  this  particular  voyage.  Mrs.  Max- 
well followed  in  our  wake  as  we  entered  the  par- 
lor, and  as  we  cast  anchor  in  a  chair  where  she 
could  watch  me  closely  through  a  mirror  without 
the  necessity  of  staring  at  me  directly,  I  saw  that 
she  had  thrown  the  rolling-pin  "overboard,"  and 
was  unarmed.  The  sea  thus  becoming  calmer  and 
land  in  sight, the  woman's  husband  told  the  follow- 
ing story: 

' '  The  real  emissary  of  Max  J.  Lasar  is  the  wife 
of  his  brother,  Morris  Lasar.  She  has  been  the  go- 
between  for  some  time.  I  have  been  acting  as  sole 
agent  of  the  man,  though  I  am  nothing  of  the 


10  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

kind.  Several  weeks  ago  Max  Lasar  cabled  me 
from  Liverpool  that  he  was  about  to  embark  in 
the  Dominion  Line  steamer  Labrador,  en  route  to 
Montreal.  He  instrncted  me  to  infonn  his  brother 
of  tliat  fact,  that  the  latter  might  send  his  wife  to 
Canada  to  meet  him.  I  don't  know  how  the  infor- 
mation reached  Lasar 's  brother.  I  never  sent  him 
word  that  he  was  to  arrive  in  Montreal. 

''Mrs.  Lasar  went  to  the  Windsor  Hotel  in 
Montreal  and  registered  as  Mrs.  E.  Smith  of 
Brooklyn.  She  remained  at  this  hotel  one  day 
only,  and  to  throw  off  detectives,  should  there  be 
rhj  on  her  track,  she  took  a  long  trip  out  in  the 
country,  returning  to  Montreal  during  the  night. 
She  went  to  the  St.  George  Hotel,  and  registered 
under  the  name  of  jMrs,  S.  Lasar.  She  returned 
to  New  York  three  days  following,  and  the  next 
morning  I  visited  the  woman's  husband,  who  said 
that  his  wife  had  a  valuable  package  belonging  to 
Max  Lasar. 

"I  asked  him  what  he  had  done  with  the  pack- 
age, and  he  said  that  it  was  so  valuable  that  he  had 
dug  a  hole  in  the  cellar  of  his  saloon  and  buried  it. 
He  told  me  at  the  same  time  that  Max  had  re- 
turned to  the  States,  and  was  then  stopping  at  the 
Washington  Hotel  in  Jersey  City.  However,Lasar 
came  to  the  Maiden  Lane  office  and  said  the  con- 
tents of  the  package  his  sister-in-law  brought  com- 
prised $250,000  worth  of  diamonds  and  other 
precious  stones,  and  added  that  Armstrong  was 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  11 

to  get  them  next  day  from  his  brother  and  dispose 
of  them  in  the  open  market  as  rapidly  as  possible, 
because  he  wanted  to  return  to  Europe  within  ten 
days  to  procure  another  load." 

Promptly  the  next  morning  Maxwell  or  Arm- 
strong called  at  the  saloon  of  Morris  Lasar,  and 
presented  a  written  order  for  the  property  buried 
in  the  cellar.  In  an  understanding  between  men 
of  this  kind  it  is  only  natural  to  assmne  that  there 
is  some  degree  of  honesty.  There  never  was  a 
truer  ancient  law  than  *4ionor  among  thieves." 
Those  who  doubt  it  have  only  to  make  a  study,  no 
matter  how  cursory,  of  the  inmates  of  the  various 
States'  prisons.  Some  of  them  stop  at  noth- 
ing to  buy  flowers  for  a  degraded  woman, 
but  only  the  low  order  of  thieves  play  sharp 
tricks  upon  one  another.  Brother  Lasar  looked 
the  order  over  in  an  indolent  sort  of  way,  and 
handed  it  back  to  Armstrong,  with  these  words : 

"You  get  a  big  fat  slice  of  the  pie.  So  does  my 
brother.  I  am  very  fond  of  Max.  He  is  the  clev- 
erest of  the  family.  My  wife  asked  me  the  other 
night  why  I  couldn't  be  as  smart  as  he  is.  Well, 
I  am !  You  just  trot  back  to  Max  and  tell  him  that 
his  diamonds  are  in  pawn,  and  that  I  am  the  pawn- 
broker, banker  and  the  whole  shooting  outfit.  You 
might  just  as  well  remark  to  him  that  if  he  wants 
the  stuff  that  I  have  planted  in  my  cellar  he  has  to 
pay  me  $10,000  for  the  crop.    This  is  hay-time, 


12  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

jjlease  say  to  my  dear  brother,  and  I  may  raise  my 
price  to-morrow." 

However,  Maxwell  says  you  could  have  sold  him 
for  a  ha'penny  when  this  astounding  proposition 
was  made  to  him.  He  could  scarcely  contain  him- 
self with  anger,  and  he  exploded  with  a  remark 
more  forcible  than  original.  He  told  the  gin-mill 
keeper  that  in  his  opinion  he  had  not  a  shred  of 
conscience  left,  to  which  Brother  Lasar  bowed  in 
genuine  Alphonse-Gaston  humor.  "Then,"  said 
Maxwell  in  relating  the  event  to  me,  "he  had  the 
cheek  to  invite  me  to  have  a  drink,  and  made  me 
pay  for  it.  I  never  went  into  his  place  again  unless 
urgent  business  demanded  my  presence  there." 

Max  Lasar  knew  his  brother  well,  by  which  I 
mean  he  knew  him  better  than  any  living  man. 
He  was  amazed,  of  course,  when  the  news  of  the 
demand  of  his  brother  was  conveyed  to  him,  and, 
although  he  had  a  most  elastic  conscience  and  an 
india-rubber  heart,  either  of  which  would  be 
stretched  without  being  strained  or  broken,  he  did 
not  relish  anybody  being  more  dishonest  than  him- 
self.   It  did  not  take  him  long  to  decide,  however. 

"Don't  lose  a  moment,"  he  said  to  his  clerk. 
"Get  back  as  fast  as  you  know  how,  and  give  him 
these.  I  know  what  he  will  do.  He  will  want 
$20,000  to-morrow." 

The  diamond  smuggler  pulled  a  wallet  from  an 
inside  pocket  and  counted  out  nine  $1,000  and  two 
$500  greenbacks. 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  13 

' '  Damn  him ! ' '  Maxwell  heard  his  employer  say 
as  he  took  his  departure.  ''And  I  know  enough 
to  hang  him ! ' ' 

The  following  morning  the  package  of  diamonds 
was  delivered  to  the  smuggler.  "I'll  keep  them 
for  a  few  days,"  said  Lasar,  "and  then  give  them 
to  you  to  dispose  of." 

Lasar  trusted  Maxwell  implicitly,  and  frequent- 
ly told  him  much  of  his  family  affairs. 

Maxwell  was  blind  to  many  things,  and  his  em- 
ployer was  so  blind  to  his  own  folly  that  he  never 
supposed  for  a  moment  that  anybody  could  see  the 
skeleton  in  his  closet.  But  "in  the  kingdom  of  the 
blind  the  one-eyed  are  kings,"  and  in  the  natural 
order  of  events,  Lasar  sometimes  failed  to  recol- 
lect that  he  had  a  wronged  wife  and  that  detectives 
were  cheap.  These  divorce-procuring  sleuths 
never  lost  sight  of  their  man  after  he  was  five 
hours  in  Jersey  City. 

They  had  rather  anticipated  his  coming  in  a  way 
secret  to  themselves,  and  they  readily  learned 
that  a  petite  English  miss  had  followed  his  ar- 
rival in  the  former  celebrated  town  of  bunco-men 
and  trusts  by  scarcely  one  hour. 

And  while  the  dodger  of  duties  was  ruminating 
on  how  he  could  hang  his  erratic  brother,  but 
would  not,  the  Holmes  and  the'.Vidocqs  were  weav- 
ing a  noose  to  hang  the  erotic  brother,  and  would 


14  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

do  so.  Time  opens  many  graves,  and  how  that  of 
Max  J.  Lasar,  smuggler  and  free-lover,  was  dug  is 
to  be  told  in  another  chapter. 


CHAPTER  n 

In  books  of  fiction,  tales  of  love  and  reviews  of 
the  stage,  all  women  are  documented  as  being 
pretty,  often  when  they  are  not.  Some  of  the 
most  successful  women  of  the  world  have  been 
homely,  and  they  were  doubtless  successful  be- 
cause they  were  plain,  and  not  vain.  Bayard  Tay- 
lor said : 

"A  spirit  clothed  with  grace, 
And  pure,  almost  as  angels  are,  may  have  a  homely  face." 

Ivy  Cruede  was  not  homely,  neither  was  she 
an  angel.  She  was  just  a  poor  devil  of  a  girl  who 
always  got  the  wrong  end  of  everything.  She 
might  have  been  a  good  girl  if  some  of  the  high- 
minded  millionaires  and  freely  scented  rich  dames 
who  spend  money  on  questionable  institutions  had 
laid  the  corner-stone  for  her  and  other  unfortu- 
nates of  her  kind  to  step  across  the  muddy,  slimy 
stream. 

Ivy  Cruede  was  a  pretty  girl,  and  in  a  matter- 
of-fact  narrative  like  this,  where  looks  do  not 
count,  the  statement  is  made  only  because  it  is 
true.  Her  face  was  her  misfortune,  and  she  was 
a  simple  automaton  of  impulse.    Her  grace  and 

15 


16  DEFEAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

looks  made  her  much  sought  after,  and  she  was 
lost  in  the  maelstrom  of  flattery  and  admiration. 
She  had  been  given  a  splendid  education,  however, 
and  this  should  have  saved  her.  She  had  never 
been  loved  for  her  real  worth,  although  she  was 
just  dying  for  an  honest  man's  affection. 

She  was  unable  to  distinguish  between  the  real 
and  unreal,  and  when  Max  J.  Lasar  met  her  on  the 
Labrador,  posed  as  a  single  man,  and  told  her  that 
he  loved  her,  she,  poor  moth,  danced  around  the 
bright-flamed  candle  and  got  her  wings  singed. 
This,  then,  was  the  sort  of  woman  that  the  dia- 
mond smuggler  brought  with  him  to  Jersey  City 
when  the  divorce  detectives  were  hot  on  his  trail, 
and  it  was  this  woman  who  afterwards  proved  the 
star  witness  for  the  Government. 

Ivy  Cruede  lived  at  Taylor's  Hotel  in  Jersey 
City,  and  Lasar  spent  his  nights  there  in  company 
with  her,  and  his  days  at  the  Washington  Hotel, 
near  by,  in  the  company  of  his  diamonds.  Messrs. 
Munroe,  Harold  &  Evelyn  had  been  retained  by 
the  father  of  Mrs.  Lasar  to  secure  evidence  for  a 
divorce.  Some  of  the  best  detectives  in  that  line 
of  business  were  secured  to  help  Mrs.  Lasar  get 
her  marital  freedom.  They  were  lavish  in  their 
expenditures,  and  made  rapid  headway. 

The  clerk  of  the  Washington  Hotel  was  a  most 
obliging  young  man,  and  he  saw  no  objection,  one 
afternoon,  to  lending  the  sleuths  a  ladder  and 
showing   them   the   transom   that   was   over   the 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  17 

smuggler's  door.  He  had  gone  to  Ms  room  a  half- 
hour  before,  and  they  knew  it  as  well  as  the  hall- 
boy,  who  gave  them  a  sly  wink  when  he  came 
bounding  downstairs  a  few  minutes  after  the  man 
entered. 

It  is  a  matter  of  official  record  what  the  detec- 
tives saw  from  the  ladder  while  peering  through 
the  transom,  but  for  the  sake  of  completeness  it 
may  be  repeated  in  part  here.  Lasar  was  in  his 
shirt-sleeves,  seated  at  a  table  in  the  centre  of  the 
room,  with  his  back  to  the  spies.  Their  elevation 
permitted  them  to  see  over  his  head.  In  the  cen- 
tre of  the  table  was  a  wooden  box,  12  to  15  inches 
in  length,  about  3  inches  wide  and  2  inches  deep. 
Lasar  was  busy  examining  the  contents  of  the  box, 
which  consisted  of  a  great  number  of  smaller 
packages,  done  up  in  thin  white  papers,  about 
three  inches  long.  He  had  a  number  of  the 
paper  packages  open,  and  their  former  contents, 
which  the  detectives  saw  to  be  brilliants,  were 
here  and  there  on  the  table. 

At  intervals  of  every  few  minutes  the  smug- 
gler would  mark  something  in  an  open  book  that 
lay  at  his  side  on  a  convenient  chair,  and  it  is  as- 
sumed that  he  was  checking  off  the  gems.  Fear- 
ful of  spoiling  through  discovery  some  future  evi- 
dence, the  sleuths  dropped  down  the  ladder  at  this 
point,  and  the  Qbliging  hall-boy  took  it  away. 

The  big  box  and  its  contents  disappeared  from 
the  hotel  that  same  night,  and  the  following  day 


18  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

they  were  placed  on  sale  in  New  York  by  Lasar's 
representatives.  Ivy  Crnede  had  Suite  9  at 
Taylor's  Hotel,  and  it  was  in  trap  9  that 
the  human  wolf,  Lasar,  was  caught.  He  went 
to  the  Cruede  hostelry  from  his  "immaculate" 
apartments  in  the  Washington  Hotel  one  night, 
as  usual,  and  he  had  hardly  entered  before 
the  detectives  had  telephone  connection  with 
New  York  and  Brother-in-law  Sam  Buckner  on 
the  other  end.  It  was  little  or  no  time  before  the 
man  at  the  other  end  of  the  'phone  was  holding  a 
pow-wow  with  the  detectives  in  the  cafe  of  the 
Taylor  Hotel,  and  again  the  puissant  ladder  was 
brought  into  requisition. 

Lasar  was  caught  red-handed,  or  anything  else 
that  it  might  be  called,  and  the  chariot  of  air  bub- 
bles that  the  misguided  Cruede  girl  had  been  rid- 
ing in  was  dashed  to  pieces  on  the  road  of  wrong 
endeavors.  I  was  not  present  at  this  interesting 
scene,  but  from  court  records  I  learn  that  the  de- 
tectives forced  the  transom  and  saw  Lasar  in  a 
compromising  position  with  the  English  girl. 
Sam  Buckner  afterwards  told  me  that  he  laughed 
at  Lasar  through  the  transom  and  asked  him  if  he 
felt  as  good  as  he  looked.  Wliich,  in  my  opinion, 
was  like  adding  insult  to  injury, 

Lasar  did  not  leave  Taylor's  Hotel  that  night, 
but  the  Cruede  girl  did,  and  with  the  money  which 
the  shameless  man  had  given  her  bought  a  ticket 
and  started  for  Europe  the  following  day  in  the 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  19 

steamer  Germanic.  I  missed  her  at  the  ship  by 
ten  minutes.  I  did  not  know  the  woman's  name 
at  that  time,  but  I  succeeded  in  getting  what  I 
supposed  it  was  from  the  hotel  register  in  Jersey 
City.  I  wanted  to  go  abroad  immediately  to 
search  for  her,  but  considered,  after  some  hours  of 
quiet  thought,  that  my  man  was  not  cooked  brown 
enough,  and  that  it  might  be  a  good  idea  to  stand 
by  and  watch  him  frizzle. 

So  I  "invited"  him  out  for  a  ride  on  the  ele- 
vated railroad.  While  we  were  humming  along 
in  midair  he  got  the  impression  in  some  mysterious 
way  that  I  had  him  under  arrest,  and  for  obvious 
reasons  I  did  not  intimate  to  him  that  he  was  or 
was  not.  He  was  surprisingly  communicative,  and 
he  went  on  from  one  phase  of  the  Lasar  matter  to 
another  without  the  least  bit  of  prompting  or  coax- 
ing on  my  part.  It  was  not  until  the  "L"  train 
arrived  well  downtown  that  I  had  any  intimation 
that  the  man  considered  himself  my  prisoner.  We 
were  approaching  the  Cortlandt  Street  station, 
when  he  turned  to  me  and  said : 

**It  may  seem  improbable,  but  my  word  once 
given  is  sacred  with  me."  I  waited  to  see  what 
he  was  driving  at,  and  he  added:  "I  want  to  go 
to  my  office  on  an  important  matter,  and  if  you 
give  me  permission  to  do  so,  I  pledge  on  my  honor 
to  meet  you  at  the  Custom  House  inside  fifteen 
minutes.  I  will  bring  with  me  a  wallet  which  has 
$50,000  worth  of  smuggled  diamonds  in  it." 


20  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

At  first,  I  did  not  believe  that  the  man  would  do 
anything  of  the  kind  if  I  let  him  get  out  of  my 
sight,  and  I  was  about  to  say  that  I  would  accom- 
pany him  to  his  office  in  Maiden  Lane,  when  he 
said: 

* '  Do  not  be  afraid  of  my  running  away.  I  would 
not  leave  my  family  for  all  the  prisons  in  the 
world.  I  will  be  in  Collector  Bidwell's  office  in- 
side of  fifteen  minutes.    I  swear  it." 

Since  Adam  cut  his  eye-teeth,  man  has  been  de- 
ceived in  man,  and  I  was  in  Maxwell.  Although 
I  acquiesced  in  his  going,  I  never  expected  that  he 
would  return.  Asa  matter  of  fact,  I  was  but  a  few 
moments  in  the  Custom  House  when  in  he  came 
and  deposited  the  promised  wallet  on  the  Collect- 
or's desk.  The  latter  was  as  greatly  astonished 
as  I  was. 

That  there  might  be  no  misunderstanding  as  to 
what  the  man  said  or  did,  the  Collector  had  his  pri- 
vate secretary,  and  also  his  chief  clerk,  appear  as 
witnesses.  This  chief  clerk  that  particular  time 
was  in  charge  of  the  division,  its  regiilar  head 
being  absent.  Mr.  Small  took  down  in  shorthand 
everything  that  the  employee  of  Lasar  said. 

Maxwell  repeated  in  every  detail  all  he  had 
told  me  as  to  his  relations  with  Lasar,  the  $10,000 
blackmailing  proposition  of  his  brother,  the  his- 
tory of  the  divorce  proceedings,  and,  in  fact,  every 
minute  circumstance  of  Lasar 's  methods,  socially. 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  21 

Small  did  not  lose  a  word  that  the  man  said.  When 
he  had  competed  the  main  portion  of  his  story,  he 
addressed  the  Collector. 

''If  you  were  me,  sir,  what  would  you  do  in  this 
matter?"  he  inquired. 

"Why,"  responded  the  head  of  the  Custom 
House,  without  a  second's  hesitation,  "if  I  were 
you  I'd  stand  by  my  flag.  I  would  make  an  affi- 
davit." 

"I  will  do  so  if  you  promise  me  one  thing.  Un- 
der no  circumstances  must  my  name  appear  in  the 
court  or  elsewhere  in  this  matter.  I  want  a  prom- 
ise in  writing  to  that  effect. ' ' 

It  was  explained  to  Maxwell  at  some  length  by 
those  present  that  it  was  out  of  the  question  for  a 
sworn  officer  of  the  Government  to  make  any  such 
promise  or  enter  into  any  kind  of  a  compact  of 
that  sort  to  condone  an  offense  committed  against 
the  Government. 

"If  that's  the  case,  then,"  Maxwell  made  re- 
ply, "I  will  not  make  an  affidavit.  I  will  show  you 
the^e  $50,000  worth  of  diamonds,  which  I  think 
were  smuggled  by  Lasar,  but  they  must  not  be 
seized.  I  do  not  care  what  you  do  after  I  return 
them  to  the  safe  of  Mr.  Lasar." 

While  he  was  displaying  the  gems,  Secretary 
Small  had  the  statement  of  the  man  typewritten, 
in  the  hope  that  he  might  sign  it.  When  the  state- 
ment was  brought   in  and   read  to   Maxwell  he 


22  DEFEAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

was  asked  by  the  Collector  if  he  was  correctly 
quoted. 

''Every  word  in  that  document  is  true,"  said 
the  man  in  a  most  dramatic  way. 

The  Collector  affixed  his  name  to  it  first,  Mr. 
Small,  the  chief  clerk  and  myself  following  in 
the  order  named.  It  was  then  turned  over  to 
Maxwell  for  his  signature.  He  was  seated  at  a 
desk,  facing  the  Collector,  at  the  time.  He  looked 
impressively  at  the  signatures,  picked  up  a  pen, 
calmly  dipped  it  in  the  ink,  and  laid  it  down  again. 

**No,"  said  he,  rising  and  reaching  for  his  hat, 
"I  won't  sign  that  paper.  I  have  no  guarantee 
that  I  will  be  taken  care  of. ' ' 

"With  that  he  went  out,  wallet,  diamonds  and  all. 
I  made  no  attempt  to  follow  him.  Instead,  I  has- 
tened to  the  United  States  District  Attorney,  and 
presented  the  statement  to  him.  Although  we  had 
this  strong  piece  of  evidence,  signed  in  the  pres- 
ence of  Maxwell,  witnessed  hy  four  reputable  men, 
and  admitted  to  be  true  by  the  informer,  the  Dis- 
trict Attorney  absolutely  refused  to  give  i^e  a 
search  warrant  to  make  the  seizure  of  the  Lasar 
diamonds. 

I  even  went  so  far  as  to  seek  Maxwell  again 
that  morning  and  bring  him  before  the  District 
Attorney,  to  whom  he  admitted  that  all  that  was 
contained  in  the  declaration  was  true;  but  the  Dis- 
trict Attorney  said  that  unless  Maxwell  made  a 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  23 

deposition  to  that  effect  it  would  be  illegal  for  him 
to  issue  a  search  warrant.  Maxwell  again  left, 
but  I  remained  behind  and  pleaded  all  that  day 
with  the  District  Attorney  to  grant  me  the  neces- 
sary paper.  It  was  5.45  that  evening  when  he 
finally  did  so. 

Lasar's  fear  of  divorce  proceedings  now  being 
relieved  by  the  absolute  institution  of  the  same, 
he  no  longer  was  afraid  to  visit  the  metropolis. 
He  had  lots  of  backbone  in  this  instance,  and  was 
determined  to  brazen  it  out.  It  was  within  a  few 
minutes  of  six  when  I  reached  the  doorway  of 
Lasar's  business  place.  I  had  previously  tele- 
phoned to  the  Collector  that  I  was  likel}^  to  make 
the  seizure  that  evening,  and  asked  him  to  wait  at 
the  Custom  House  until  I  had  brought  the  stuff  in. 

As  I  was  entering  Lasar's  door  I  ran  up  against 
Maxwell,  who  was  coming  out.  I  thought  that  he 
was  treating  the  department  honestly  enough,  but 
to  make  sure  that  he  was  not  taking  away  any  un- 
necessary wallets,  or  the  like,  I  touched  his  person 
in  a  convincing  way.  He  seemed  to  be  over-solici- 
tous about  what  I  was  doing  there  at  that  hour, 
and  he  suddenly  said : 

''My!  I  left  an  important  letter  on  my  desk. 
I  must  go  back  and  get  it. ' ' 

''You  can  come  back  here  to-morrow  morning," 
I  said,  blocking  his  way.  "  I  do  not  intend  to  let 
you  return  upstairs  until  I  have  come  down." 

I  expected  he  would  resent  a  censorship  of  this 


24  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

kind,  but  to  my  surprise  he  said,  rather  meekly,  I 
thought : 

''Very  well,  then.  The  letter  can  be  posted  to- 
morrow just  as  well.    Good-night." 

I  followed  him  to  the  corner  without  being  ob- 
served, and  saw  him  board  an  uptown  car.  I 
wanted  to  make  sure  that  he  did  not  attempt  to  use 
a  nearby  telephone  to  warn  whomever  was  in  his 
office  that  I  was  coming.  I  had  but  one  stairs  to 
climb  when  I  returned  to  the  entrance.  I  did  not 
expect  to  find  Lasar  there,  but  there  he  was,  sure 
enough,  and  between  him  and  me  there  stood  a 
tall,  iron-barred  fence  that  reached  nearly  to  the 
ceiling  and  which,  as  I  subsequently  discovered, 
had  a  spring-lock  door  for  admittance  to  the  sa- 
cred chamber  of  brilliants,  duty  unpaid. 

I  took  in  the  whole  room  at  a  glance.  There  was 
a  safe  ten  feet  high  and  some  six  feet  wide  in  one 
corner,  and  in  front  of  this,  which  was  open, 
sat  Lasar,  with  a  pile  of  drawers  on  the  floor  and 
on  chairs  about  him.  He  had  his  back  to  me  as  I 
entered,  and  did  not  turn  around  to  see  who  it 
was  that  had  come  in.  Pie  either  had  the  con- 
fidence that  successful  criminal  operations  give  a 
man,  or  he  imagined  that  it  was  Maxwell  who 
had  returned. 

I  took  in  the  strong,  burly  figure  of  the  smug- 
gler, and  in  the  same  instant  observed  that  there 
were  two  other  occupants  of  the  office,  a  boy  and 
a  thin  young  man,  who  I  afterwards  learned  was 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  25 

Armstrong.  The  furnishings  of  the  place  showed 
taste  and  means,  but  with  that  prison-like  barrier 
between  lis  I  realized  that  it  would  be  impossible 
to  get  at  Lasar  unless  I  had  the  open  sesame  of 
that  modernly  applied  door,  and  I  said  on  the 
impulse  of  the  moment : 

''How  do  you  do,  Mr.  Lasar?" 

He  turned  around  quickly,  but  not  in  time  to 
prevent  the  little  office  boy,  who  believed  I  was  a 
friend,  from  pressing  a  spring  that  released  the 
door.  The  next  instant  I  was  within  the  charmed 
circle  and  closed  the  door  behind  me.  Armstrong, 
who  knew  his  master  better  than  I  did,  must  have 
seen  an  odd  expression  as  he  arose  to  greet  me, 
friend  or  foe  he  then  knew  not. 

''What  can  I  do  for  you!"  queried  Armstrong, 
advancing  before  his  employer  could  speak. 

"You  can  do  nothing  for  me,"  I  said  to  him, 
quietly.    "My  business  is  with  Mr.  Lasar." 

I  still  think  that  Armstrong  believed  my  inten- 
tions were  to  rob  the  place,  but,  after  looking  me 
over  carefully,  he  glanced  hurriedly  at  the  draw- 
ers scattered  about  the  floor  and  chairs  in  front 
of  the  big  safe,  and  walked  a  few  feet  away.  I 
did  not  waste  any  words  upon  Lasar,  I  did  not 
have  to,  because  I  knew  him  well  from  sole  to 
crown  top,  but  as  he  had  never  seen  me  before,  so 
far  as  he  knew,  he  said : 

"T  do  not  exactly  place  you.** 

"You  are  Max  J.  Lasar  I" 


26  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

' '  Yes ;  what  is  it  you  want  ? ' ' 

I  told  him  who  I  was,  produced  my  search  war- 
rant, and  read  it  to  him. 

Lasar  had  a  complexion  like  that  of  an  Indian. 
Notwithstanding  this,  his  face  turned  the  picture 
of  death  as  I  read  the  legal  document  to  him.  I 
kept  edging  my  way  over  to  the  open  safe  as  I 
read.  He  dropped  into  a  convenient  chair  and 
hung  his  head  in  his  hands.  I  never  saw  a  man 
go  to  pieces  as  quickly  and  completely  as  did  he. 

Armstrong,  though  small,  was  as  gamey  as  any 
man  I  had  ever  seen,  and  in  his  loyaltj'"  to  his 
employer,  I  think  that  he  might  have  sailed 
in  for  me  if  given  the  word.  I  waited  for 
Lasar  to  recover  his  nerve,  and  the  silence  that  en- 
sued while  he  was  pulling  himself  together  was 
painful  in  the  extreme.  He  was  a  man  of  about 
forty-three  years  of  age,  as  strong  as  an  ox,  and 
as  good-looking  as  a  perpetual  frown  would  let 
him  be.  He  must  have  buried  his  face  in  his  hands 
for  fully  five  minutes,  but  he  finally  looked  up  and 
said: 

"I  will  show  you  everything  I  have  here." 

"No,"  I  made  reply.  "I  do  not  require  your 
aid.    I  want  to  be  left  entirely  free  in  my  search." 

This  I  proceeded  to  do.  I  dived  into  the  draw- 
ers and  into  the  compartments  of  that  safe,  and 
succeeded  in  co Meeting  four  wallets  of  diamonds 
that  were  afterwards  appraised  at  $57,000.  I  also 
came  across  a  wallet  that  contained  a  lot  of  tissue 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  27 

or  diamond  papers.  The  latter  had  innumerable 
marks  on  the  left-hand  corner  and  upon  the  top, 
and  also  on  the  inside  of  the  wrapper.  I  knew 
that  these  papers  had  contained  diamonds,  and  1 
took  possession  of  this  wallet  and  its  contents. 

I  made  a  package  of  the  whole  lot,  sealed  it  in 
the  presence  of  the  smuggler,  and  told  him  that 
its  contents  were  in  the  possession  of  the  United 
States  Government,  which  I  represented.  He 
asked  me  what  I  intended  to  do  with  them,  and 
I  said  that  the  Collector  was  waiting  for  me  to  re- 
turn, and  that  I  would  turn  over  the  property  to 
that  official.  Then  he  asked  if  he  might  accom- 
pany me  to  the  Custom  House,  and  I  said  that  it 
was  exactly  what  he  should  do. 

We  arrived  at  the  Custom  House  five  minutes 
after  leaving  the  smuggler's  den.  The  Collector 
had  detained  his  private  secretary  at  the  of- 
fice in  the  event  of  my  mission  being  successful. 
I  said  to  the  Collector  as  I  entered: 

"This  is  Max  J.  Lasar.  He  says  these  are  his 
diamonds.  They  were  smuggled  into  this  country, 
and  I  have  seized  them. ' ' 

Lasar,  who  had  entirely  recovered  from  Ms  sur- 
prise, said: 

''What  building  is  this?" 

"This,"  responded  the  Collector,  "is  the  Cus- 
tom House,  where  all  honest  merchants  pay  their 
duties.  If  you  do  not  know  what  building  it  is,  it 
is  high  time  you  did.    These  goods  are  now  in  the 


28  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

hands  of  the  Government.  Mr.  Small,  give  this 
man  a  receipt  for  what  we  have  here."  This  was 
done,  and  Lasar  left. 

To  cultivate  the  distinguished  acquaintance  of 
Morris  Lasar,  the  brother  of  the  smuggler,  it  was 
necessary  to  drink  a  good  deal  of  his  bad  rum. 
It  did  not  leave  any  permanent  injuries,  which  has 
puzzled  me  to  this  very  day.  Accompanied  by  a 
Government  employee,  I  made  many  excursions  to 
the  Pavonia  Hotel,  and  we  got  on  terms  of  dear 
companionship  with  the  man  who  had  blackmailed 
his  own  brother.  He  never  suspected  who  we 
were. 

We  learned  a  great  deal  that  was  valuable  at  his 
place,  and  what  we  did  not  find  out  there  was  sup- 
plied elsewhere.  When  sufficient  evidence  was 
garnered,  it  was  decided  to  arrest  Max  J.  Lasar, 
his  brother,  and  the  latter 's  wife  simultaneously. 
I  insisted  upon  accompanying  the  Deputy  L^nited 
States  Marshal  when  he  corraled  the  saloon 
Ikeeper.  I  wanted  to  be  present  when  he  was 
brought  into  Ludlow  Street  Jail,  that  I  might 
search  him  personally. 

I  was  convinced  that,  knowing  the  mystic  signs 
on  diamond  papers  and  the  like,  I  would  be  able 
to  get  incriminating  evidence  that  might  other- 
wise escape  the  ordinary  searcher.  The  District 
Attorney  was  surprised  at  my  request,  and  said 
something  about  the  irregularity  of  the  thing,  but 
I  pleaded  with  him,  and  he  finally  said  that  I 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  29 

might  go  with  the  marshal.  Another  object  in  my 
being  on  the  scene  was  that  I  did  not  want  Brother 
Lasar  to  meet  his  wife  when  she  was  brought  in 
from  her  79th  Street  house. 

When  we  appeared  in  the  saloon,  the  saloon 
keeper  started  to  go  behind  the  bar  the  moment 
I  stepped  in.  I  called  upon  the  marshal  to 
prevent  him  doing  so.  This  official  showed  his  au- 
thority and  commanded  the  man  to  come  from  be- 
hind the  bar,  which  he  did.  He  then  placed  him 
under  arrest.  Lasar  was  fighting  mad  over  it, 
particularly  as  the  saloon  was  crowded,  but  he 
cooled  down  when  he  had  taken  several  long  drinks 
of  whisky,  and  asked  the  marshal  if  he  might  not 
go  behind  the  bar  to  get  money  and  cigars.  The 
officer  would  not  let  him  do  as  he  requested,  how- 
ever, but  said  that  anything  that  was  wanted  he 
would  personally  have  passed  out.  Brother  Lasar 
then  inquired : 

"Well,  may  I  go  to  the  safe  and  get  something 
there?" 

This  safe  rested  outside  the  bar,  and  was  about 
four  feet  high  and  several  feet  wide.  The  mar- 
shal turned  to  me,  and  I  said  that  there  was  no 
objection  to  his  doing  that.  The  man  then  walked 
over  to  the  security  holder,  and  after  fiddling 
away  at  the  combination  for  what  seemed  to  us  to 
be  an  interminably  long  time,  he  swung  its  door 
back,  opened  another  door  inside  and  pulled  out, 
shades  of  Marvin!  a  heavy  overcoat.    The  mar- 


30  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

sbal  whistled.  So  did  several  of  the  customers, 
who  by  tliis  time  had  become  aware  that  the  man 
was  in  the  custody  of  a  Treasury  official.  I  helped 
Lasar  on  with  his  coat,  and  he  cursed  me  under 
his  breath. 

''Better  leave  your  private  papers  here,"  said 
one  of  the  bartenders  in  a  solicitous  tone.  "Take 
another  good  hooker  before  you  go." 

The  pseudo  boniface  ignored  the  requests  of 
his  understudy  and,  buttoning  up  his  coat,  said : 

"Now,  gentlemen,"  with  an  unmistakable  inflec- 
tion on  the  noun,  "I  am  ready  to  see  this  game 
of  yours  through.  And  I  want  to  say,  before  we 
start,  before  you  squeeze  any  information  out  of 
me  I'll  see  you  in  hell,  with  your  tongue  hanging 
out." 

It  was  not  refined  talk,  but  we  were  in  a  bar- 
room, where  that  kind  of  language  was  popular. 
As  soon  as  we  reached  the  street  Lasar,  with  a 
sarcastic  curl  to  his  lip,  said : 

"They  tell  me  that  this  chap.  Uncle  Sam,  has 
barrels  of  money.  If  I  am  going  to  the  Hotel  de 
Ludlow,  as  I  suppose  I  am,  I  want  to  go  in  style. 
Please  order  a  cab,  and  one  of  you  chaps  may  sit 
up  with  the  driver.  It  is  either  a  cab  or  a 
stretcher.  AVhich  shall  it  be,  my  bold  custo- 
dians?" 

The  last  sentence  was  with  a  mock  bow  that 
caused  some  of  the  liangers-on,  who  had  emerged 
from  the  saloon  to  see  us  off,  to  roar  aloud.    The 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  31 

brother  of  the  smuggler  was  certainly  enjoying 
himself  at  the  expense  of  his  captors,  and  it  cost 
Uncle  Sam  something,  too,  for  we  hailed  a  cab. 
Lasar  was  as  garrulous  as  a  magpie  en  route  to 
the  jail,  but  I  considered  his  loquaciousness  due 
to  bad  whisky  and  a  desire  to  annoy  the  marshal 
and  myself. 

We  arrived  at  the  jail  while  he  was  berating  the 
Government  at  a  great  rate.  Captain  Prankard, 
the  warden  of  the  prison,  met  us  as  we  came  in. 
I  gave  him  the  particulars  of  the  arrest,  and 
when  Lasar  was  asked  several  stereotyped  ques- 
tions he  answered  them  in  a  way  that  left  the 
impression  that  he  had  been  drinking.  At  least, 
that  is  what  Captain  Prankard  thought.  I  knew 
that  he  was  acting.  He  woke  up  as  fresh  as  a 
June  rose,  however,  when  I  said  to  the  warden : 

''Captain  Prankard,  I  want  to  search  this  man. 
He  may  object  to  my  doing  so,  but  I  think  he  has 
something  on  his  person  that  is  of  value  to  the 
Government." 

Lasar  turned  color  and,  quickly  recovering  him- 
self, said: 

"Search  me  as  much  as  you  damn  jDlease.  I'll 
even  help  you  to  search.  I'll  remove  my  overcoat 
to  make  things  easier  for  you." 

He  took  off  his  topcoat  and  laid  it  on  a  chair 
at  the  end  of  the  captain's  desk.  Feeling  satis- 
fied that  the  removal  of  the  coat  was  a  ruse,  and 
that  it  was  a  strange  custom  for  a  man  to  make 


32  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

a  wardrobe  of  his  business  safe,  I  made  no  at- 
tempt to  touch  the  topcoat  until  I  had  carefully 
examined  the  remainder  of  the  clothes  that  he 
wore.    When  I  had  presumably  finished,  he  said : 

''Well,  I  trust  you  are  satisfied,"  and  he  moved 
one  side  to  pick  up  his  overcoat. 

"Far  from  it,"  I  made  reply.  "I  want  to  ex- 
amine this  coat,  that  is  considered  valuable  enough 
to  lock  up  in  a  combination  safe." 

"There's  nothing  in  it.  I  swear  there  isn't," 
the  man  shouted,  trying  to  get  between  me  and 
the  garment. 

"That's  a  question  for  us  to  decide,"  said  Cap- 
tain Prankard,  restraining  him. 

One  of  the  inside  pockets  of  the  overcoat  re- 
vealed the  existence  of  a  paper  that  was  of  illim- 
itable value  to  the  Government.  It  was  of  the 
double  foolscap  variety,  and  was  nothing  more  or 
less  than  the  original  stock  sheet  of  every  package 
of  diamonds  imported  by  Smuggler  Lasar  through 
the  intervention  of  Sarah  Lasar. 

The  paper  was  turned  over  to  me  for  safe  keep- 
ing, although  the  prisoner  insisted  that  it  belonged 
to  a  friend  who  had  talked  of  opening  a  jewelry 
store,  and  for  whom  he  had  prepared  a  list  of  dia- 
monds that  would  be  necessary  to  put  on  sale. 
It  was  purely  an  imaginary  list,  he  added,  when 
Captain  Prnnkard  smiled.  I  paid  no  attention  to 
his  protestations,  being  too  busily  employed  in 
going  over  a  collection  of  papers  taken  from  other 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  33 

pockets  of  the  topcoat.  From  the  mass  of  riff-raff 
I  selected  two  letters  written,  respectively,  from 
the  Windsor  and  St.  George  hotels,  Montreal,  and 
signed  by  his  wife. 

Saloonkeeper  Lasar  was  cutting  up  at  a  great 
rate  about  the  irregularity  of  the  whole  proceed- 
ing, when  an  official  walked  in  and  whispered 
something  to  Captain  Prankard. 

"Fine,"  I  heard  him  say  in  an  undertone,  that 
Lasar  might  not  hear  him,  adding,  "Bring  her  in 
when  we  have  got  rid  of  this  prisoner.  Lasar  was 
then  locked  up,  and  he  had  hardly  disappeared 
through  one  door  when  his  wife,  in  the  custody  of 
another  marshal,  was  escorted  into  the  warden's 
room  through  another.  She  demanded  to  know 
why  she  was  brought  there,  and  I  explained  in 
detail.  She  certainly  seemed  surprised,  and 
though  I  may  be  wrong,  I  cannot  help  thinking 
to  this  day  that  she  was  under  the  impression  that 
she  had  been  arrested  for  another  offense,  of 
which  we  knew  nothing.  She  smiled  when  I  told 
her  of  her  connection  with  Max  Lasar. 

"It  is  too  silly  even  to  discuss,"  she  said  in  a 
supercilious  way  that  was  entirely  at  variance 
with  her  station  in  life.  ' '  I  demand  to  be  released 
immediately.  My  husband  will  make  it  pretty 
warm  for  you  all  when  he  learns  of  your  shame- 
ful treatment  of  me." 

A  burst  of  tears  followed,  and  a  silence  that 
was  interrupted  only  by  her  sobs  and  wails  of 


34  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

indignation  came  next.  At  last  she  was  beside 
herself,  and  asked  if  she  might  write  to  her  hus- 
band to  come  and  give  bail  for  her.  Captain 
Prankard  i^rodnced  a  sheet  of  paper  and  an  enve- 
lope. Both  had  the  official  heading.  Mrs.  Lasar 
then  took  a  seat  at  Captain  Prankard 's  desk  and 
wi'ote  a  note  to  her  husband,  addressing  the  same 
to  his  downtown  saloon.  She  was  then  locked  up 
for  the  night. 

It  did  not  require  the  eye  of  an  expert  in  hand- 
writing to  decide  that  the  two  letters  found  upon 
the  person  of  Brother  Lasar  and  the  one  written 
by  Mrs.  Lasar  at  Captain  Prankard 's  desk  were 
the  production  of  one  and  the  same  person.  This 
fact  was  established  at  the  trial.  Neither  wife  nor 
husband  was  aware  that  the  other  had  been  ar- 
rested until  the  next  morning,  when  both  were  ar- 
raigned in  the  Federal  Building  before  the  U.  S. 
Commissioner.  They  were  held  for  the  action  of 
the  grand  jury,  and  bail  was  furnished  by  their 
friends. 

The  conviction  of  any  of  the  three  meant  the 
downfall  of  all,  and  none  recognized  this  quicker 
than  the  smuggler  himself.  lie  likewise  had  a 
keen  realization  of  the  importance  of  obtaining  the 
best  legal  talent;  so  he  lost  no  time  in  retaining 
as  counsel  Judge  Daniels  and  Frank  Livingston. 

As  it  was  the  custom  from  time  immemorial  for 
an  individual  to  bond  merchandise  under  seizure, 
the  Government  gave  the  smuggler  the  privilege 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  35 

to  file  a  bond  for  the  value  of  the  goods  in  ques- 
tion, the  only  stipulation  being  that  the  Federal 
authorities  retain  about  $6,000  worth  of  diamonds 
contained  in  three  parcels  which,  it  was  absolutely 
known,  had  been  illegally  brought  in. 

Lasar  furnished  a  bond  of  $115,000  that  he 
would  return,  on  demand  by  the  Government,  the 
remainder  of  the  property  affected  by  the  legal 
proceeding.  It  was  plain  from  the  very  start  that 
he  intended  to  badger  the  authorities,  and  make 
them  assume  the  burden  of  proving  that  the  goods 
were  smuggled. 

It  should  not  be  assumed  from  the  last  sentence 
that  the  smuggler  intended  to  rest  on  his  oars 
and  permit  the  Government  to  search  with  scien- 
tific curiosity  undisturbed.  He  was  never  an  idle 
man,  not  even  in  love-making,  and  he  believed  in 
the  old  maxim,  ''For  dogs  that  bite  short  chains 
are  right."  He  thought  it  was  possible  to  place 
barriers  in  the  way  of  his  prosecutors  by  employ- 
ing sleuths  to  follow  the  enemy's  sleuths,  and  to 
his  credit  let  it  be  recorded  that  he  did  his  "duty" 
well. 

Always  ready  to  give  away  a  dollar,  a  member 
of  countless  secret  organizations,  a  good  story- 
teller, when  his  company  did  not  mind  the  quality 
of  the  tales,  Lasar  had  made  many  friends  here 
and  abroad,  and  when  he  scattered  the  news  broad- 
cast that  the  big  Government  of  America  was  try- 
ing to  persecute  him  for  an  imaginary  wrong, 


36  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

there  were  scores  to  jump  into  the  breach  in  his 
behalf. 

With  the  bonding  of  the  seized  goods,  the  Dis- 
trict Attorney  suggested  to  the  Treasury  De- 
partment that  I  be  sent  to  Europe  to  secure 
evidence  to  be  presented  to  the  grand  jury.  I 
went  over  in  the  steamer  St.  Paul,  and  although  I 
knew  it  not,  there  was  a  detective  at  my  heels. 
I  had  gleaned  the  information  before  Lasar's 
rounding  up  that  considerable  of  the  seized  goods 
had  been  purchased  of  a  well-known  exporter  of 
Amsterdam.  I  had  no  sooner  reached  the  countr\^ 
of  dikes  and  dams  when  I  became  aware  that  I 
was  being  shadowed,  and  furthermore,  that  the 
sleuth  was  invoking  the  aid  of  the  friends  of 
Lasar  in  that  country  to  stay  my  progress. 

Isidor  Soloman,  of  Amsterdam,  was  the  mer- 
chant who  sold  Lasar  a  great  many  of  his 
gems.  Soloman  was  as  honest  as  Lasar  was  a 
rogue.  I  made  no  pretense  of  interviewing  him 
for  some  few  days  following  my  arrival  in  Am- 
sterdam, for  I  was  afraid  that  the  other  "fellow" 
might  also  find  him  interesting.  But  I  reached  his 
place  by  a  circuitous  route  one  afternoon,  without 
being  observed,  and  showed  the  merchant  three 
diamond  papers  which  were  empty  when  the  seiz- 
ure was  made  in  Lasar's  place.  Soloman  recog- 
nized them  at  once  as  being  diamond  papers  pre- 
pared by  him,  but  said  that  it  would  be  necessary 
for  him  to  consult  his  books  to  decide  to  whom  he 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  37 

had  sold  their  original  contents.  I  had  simply 
told  the  merchant  that  I  was  a  Treasury  agent 
from  the  United  States,  and  that  I  was  authorized 
to  ask  questions  affecting  the  sale  of  the  diamonds 
that  the  papers  had  contained,  but  that  he  was  not 
bound  to  answer  them.  The  name  of  Lasar  had 
not  been  mentioned  by  me.  He  went  to  his  safe 
and  brought  out  a  giant  ledger,  over  which  he 
pored  for  some  minutes.  He  returned  presently 
to  where  I  was  seated,  and  said-  "These  papers 
were  wrapped  on  diamonds  that  I  personally  sold 
to  a  Max  J.  Lasar,  of  New  York  City." 

It  was  then  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of 
Friday,  January  15.  I  told  Soloman  that  the 
goods  had  been  smuggled,  and  that  they  were 
seized.  Would  he  come  to  America  as  a  witness? 
Well,  it  would  give  him  great  pleasure  to  go,  par- 
ticularly as  he  had  heard  so  much  of  that  great 
country;  but  that  he  was  under  big  expense  at 
i  home,  and  could  not  afford  to  make  the  trip.  Go 
at  the  expense  of  the  American  Government? 
With  the  greatest  of  pleasure.  All  he  had  to  do 
was  to  pack  a  grip,  kiss  his  wife  and  family 
"adieu,"  and  turn  his  business  over  temporarily 
to  a  near  relative. 

I  felt  some  misgiving  that  the  man  would  flunk 
at  the  last  minute,  or  that  the  opposition  might 
turn  up  at  the  most  critical  moment  and  throw 
him  a  significant  wink;  but  the  unexpected  hap- 
pened, and  at  nine  o'clock  that  night,  or  five  hours 


.38  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

after  I  entered  liis  estabLisbment.  Soloman  was  on 
the  train  with  me  to  take  the  boat  to  cross  the 
English  Channel  for  London.  I  had  caught  the 
sleuths  napping,  and  for  the  time  they  were  wide 
of  the  trail. 

It  was  five  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  Saturday, 
when  we  reached  London  and  embarked  on  a  train 
that  took  us  to  Liverpool.  At  five  the  same  aft- 
ernoon we  were  on  the  Cunarder  Lucania,  pass- 
ing down  the  Mersey,  with  good  old  Sandy  Hook 
as  our  destination.  Soloman  did  not  fully  realize 
what  he  had  done  until  Crosby  Lightship,  out- 
side Liverpool,  began  to  fade  in  the  distance. 

I  really  believe  that  he  would  have  taken  French 
leave  of  me  and  the  ship  at  Queenstown,  where 
we  called,  had  I  not  kept  his  mind  away  from  his 
family  and  buoyed  him  up  with  cheap  talk  as  to 
all  there  was  in  store  for  him  when  he  reached 
New  York.  He  was  a  brave  man,  as  well  as  an 
honest  one,  as  I  have  already  said,  and  though  he 
afterwards  admitted  that  he  was  more  than  half 
inclined  to  show  the  white  feather,  he  had  given 
me  his  promise  and  meant  to  stand  by  it,  como 
what  might. 

*'It  was  well,  however,  that  you  did  not  leave  me 
out  of  your  sight  about  the  time  we  called  at 
Queenstown, ' '  he  afterward  remarked. 

Soloman  proved  to  be  a  most  important  witness 
for  the  Government.  That  he  was  coming  in  my 
company  was  ascertained  by  Lasar  and  his  coun- 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  39 

sel  several  daj^s  before  the  Lucania  reached  the 
North  River.  The  sleuths,  who  had  lost  the  scent 
and  rediscovered  it  too  late  to  interfere  with  our 
sailing  from  the  other  side,  had  brought  the  sub- 
marine cable  and  a  code  book  into  requisition,  and 
our  coming  was  heralded  in  that  way. 

The  Dutch  exporter  of  precious  stones  was  too 
dangerous  a  man  to  have  knocking  at  their  door, 
and  he  was  not  twenty-four  hours  in  Manhattan 
before  it  was  evident  that  the  private  detectives, 
employed  by  somebody  or  another,  not  hard  to 
guess,  were  trying  to  approach  hmi.  It  was  just 
this  way.  There  were  many  other  smugglers  in 
the  metropolis  in  addition  to  Lasar,  and  if  the  lat- 
ter was  to  go  down  as  a  result  of  any  expose  on 
the  part  of  the  Holland  merchant,  there  was  no 
limit  to  what  else  he  would  tell  or  whom  else  he 
would  drag  down. 

So,  figuratively  speaking,  they  set  private  sig- 
nals saying,  "Let  us  stand  together  for  mutual 
protection,"  the  same  as  a  fleet  of  pirates  of  the 
Spanish  Main  used  to  do  years  ago,  when  they 
were  liable  to  attack  by  some  busybody  warship. 

That  there  might  not  be  any  leak  or  miscarriage 
of  justice,  the  Collector,  acting  upon  the  ad- 
vice of  the  District  Attorney,  employed  a  de- 
tective who  could  be  absolutely  trusted  with  the 
welfare  of  an  important  witness  like  Soloman. 
The  new  Government  sleuth  had  a  pretty  time 
beating  off  the  wolves  and  black  sheep  of  the  Lasar 


40     DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNxMENT 

fold ;  but,  as  they  could  not  buy  tlie  man,  he  never 
permitted  them  to  get  within  hailing  distance  of 
the  Holland  lamb. 

While  the  private  detective  was  protecting  the 
Dutch  merchant,  I  was  busy  in  Montreal  getting 
additional  evidence  against  the  gang  of  smugglers. 
It  was  an  easy  matter  to  obtain  this.  Smuggler 
Lasar  and  his  helpful  sister-in-law  were  daring 
to  a  degree,  but,  like  the  majority  of  swindlers 
since  the  Dark  Ages,  they  were  perfectly  satisfied 
that  they  were  too  clever  ever  to  get  their  pretty 
fingers  burned  by  the  Governmental  fire,  and  they 
failed  to  cover  certain  tracks  that  led  right  up  to 
their  front  door,  so  to  speak. 

The  hotel  clerks  at  both  the  Windsor  and  St. 
George  hotels  in  Montreal  did  not  hesitate  a  mo- 
ment when  I  asked  them  all  about  the  movements 
of  the  couple  while  they  were  guests  at  their  re- 
spective establishments,  and,  in  addition  to  getting 
valuable  depositions  from  these  connoisseurs  of 
good  stories  and  diamond-bedecked  shirt-fronts,  I 
took  i^ossession  of  the  registers  of  both  Canadian 
caravansaries  which  showed  the  signatures  of  the 
two  Americans  in  question,  the  time  of  arrival  of 
each,  and  the  length  of  stay  of  both. 

The  Dominion  Telegraph  Company  was  not  will- 
ing at  first  to  give  me  any  information  as  to  the 
telegrams  that  passed  between  the  Lasars  and 
others,  but  a  secret  diplomatic  appeal  caused  the 
company  to  turn  over  to  me  copies  of  all  telegrams 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  43 

sent  or  received  by  Max  Lasar.  These  telegrams 
helped  materially  in  completing  the  Government's 
case  when  the  proper  time  came  around. 

Evidence  against  the  entire  crowd  was,  for  that 
matter,  coming  in  so  fast  at  that  time  as  to  make  it 
most  difficult  to  keep  up  with  the  entire  collection 
of  proof,  but  the  two  star  witnesses  were  then  in 
the  wings  waiting  for  their  cue  to  take  the  centre 
of  the  stage,  and  how  they  did  it  and  captured  the 
good  graces  of  the  house  are  to  be  told  in  the  next 
chapter.  One  of  the  players,  Ivy  Cruede,  has  al- 
ready been  presented  to  the  audience,  but  the 
other,  Thomas  Nuttall,  being  a  stranger,  will  re- 
quire a  little  introduction. 


40 


CHAPTER  III 

NuTTALLwas  a  little  Englishman  with  a  big  mem- 
ory, a  ready  ear  and  a  penetrating  eye.  He  should 
have  been  a  lawyer  or  a  doctor,  but  he  was  simply 
a  steward  who  made  twelve  round-trips  across  the 
billowy  Atlantic  each  year,  and  he  saw  precious 
little  of  his  cosy  home  at  Birmingham  or  of  his 
bonnie  family  there.  Nuttall  might  have  been  un- 
discovered by  the  United  States  Government  and 
might  never  have  taken  a  leading  part  in  the  cast 
of  a  great  international  play  had  he  not  happened 
to  be  the  steward  for  Max  Lasar  during  the  trip 
of  the  Dominion  Line  steamer  Labrador  between 
Liverpool  and  Montreal. 

Being  cognizant  of  the  fact  that  it  might  be  well 
to  interview  the  bedroom  steward  that  Lasar  had 
on  his  last  and  famous  trip  with  smuggled  dia- 
monds, Collector  Bidwell  sent  me  to  Montreal  to 
meet  the  Labrador,  which,  about  that  time,  was 
supposed  to  be  due  there.  It  was  in  mid-winter, 
and  at  Montreal  I  was  told  that  during  the  cold 
term  the  Dominion  Line  was  obliged,  because  of 
ice  in  the  St.  Lawrence  River,  to  make  Portland, 
Maine,  its  last  port  of  call. 

43 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  43 

I  found  the  Labrador  at  Portland  and  had  an 
interview  with  her  commander,  who  immediately 
sent  for  Nuttall.  In  the  presence  of  the  captain 
I  told  the  man  what  was  wanted.  He  said  that  he 
knew  Lasar  very  well.  The  master  of  the  ship 
asked  what  was  desired  of  the  steward,  and  I  re- 
plied that  the  Government  required  his  services 
as  a  witness. 

Being  an  English  ship,  and  realizing  that  Nuttall 
was  not  obliged  to  say  a  word  unless  perfectly 
willing  to  do  so,  or  after  intricate  diplomatic  ar- 
rangement between  the  two  countries,  the  master 
of  the  Labrador  called  the  steward's  attention  to 
that  fact,  and  inquired  if  he  was  willing  to  go  with 
me  as  a  witness.  "Without  a  second's  hesitation 
Nuttall  replied  that  he  was.  His  discharge  papers 
were  at  once  made  out,  he  received  his  pay,  and  the 
next  train  out  of  Portland  was  carrying  us  both 
to  New  York.  This  was  Nuttall 's  debut  to  a  metro- 
politan audience,  and  he  proved  to  be  a  star  actor 
from  the  drop  of  the  hat. 

Changes  in  the  administration  of  the  United 
States  District  Attorney's  office  for  the  Southern 
District  of  New  York  occurred  at  this  time,  and 
General  Wellington  was  appointed  to  the  position 
by  the  late  President  McKinley.  It  took  some  lit- 
tle time  to  make  the  new  incumbent  acquainted 
with  the  details  of  the  case,  but  he  fell  into  it  with 
great  vim  when  I  suggested  that  it  might  be  wise 
to  seek  the  woman  Avho  was  a  fellow-passenger 


44    DEFEAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

with  the  smuggler  wlieri  he  brought  the  h\rge  ship- 
ment of  diamonds  with  him.  I  gave  him  her  name 
and  furnished  an  address  at  which  I  supposed  she 
could  be  found. 

A  special  agent  of  the  Treasury  Department 
was  about  to  go  abroad  on  other  matters,  and  he 
was  instructed  to  locate  Ivy  Cruede  in  the  out- 
skirts of  Liverpool.  This  agent  had  too  many  re- 
sponsibilities on  his  shoulders  when  he  reached 
England  and  was  unable  to  devote  the  necessary 
time  to  finding  the  former  ocean  companion  of 
Brother  Lasar.  He  cabled  that  fact  to  this  side, and 
Special  Employee  William  H.  McCormack  was 
told  to  buckle  on  his  armor  and  go  in  search  of  the 
little,  misguided  English  girl,  who  could  tell  much 
if  she  would. 

McCormack,  who  is  since  dead,  was  the  best  of 
good  fellows,  and  as  keen  in  some  things  as  the 
tongue  of  a  costermonger  in  Whitechapel.  He 
lacked  one  essential,  however.  He  was  not  cau- 
tious, and  he  was  always  as  secure  as  a  harbor 
buoy  in  the  belief  that  a  business  rival  would  have 
to  arise  mighty  early  to  get  the  better  of  him.  This 
over-confidence,  pardonable  in  this  particular  in- 
stance because  he  had  been  eminently  successful, 
made  him  trust  some  people  more  than  he  really 
should  have.  The  man  was  a  glutton  for  work. 
He  was  never  in  the  way  when  not  wanted,  and 
never  out  of  the  way  when  wanted. 

The  Government,  so  far  as  the  Treasury  De- 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  45 

partment  was  concerned,  rested  serene  in  tlie 
knowledge  that  it  could  lay  down  its  very  life  in 
depending  upon  ' '  Billy ' '  McCormack. 

McCormack  had  been  specially  warned  to  be  on 
his  guard  against  the  hired  staff  of  Max  Lasar. 
He  simply  curled  his  lip  in  derision,  and  said  that 
some  in  this  world  were  given  to  the  luxury  of 
fretting. 

*'I  should  like  to  get  the  measure  of  the  man 
who  could  dog  me  around  without  my  getting  his 
bearings,"  said  McCormack  in  a  flippant  rather 
than  a  boastful  way.  "  I  'd  give  him  the  finest  suit 
of  clothes  to  be  found  in  Paris." 

This  was  said  the  day  before  the  departure  of 
the  ship  that  was  to  take  him  to  Liverpool  in 
search  of  Miss  Cruede.  Eight  at  McCormack 's 
heels  as  he  ascended  the  gangplank  was  a  man  who 
was  destined  to  spoil  the  programme  of  the  Treas- 
ury Department  agent.  McCormack  did  not  know 
that  he  was  being  followed  and  that  his  shadower 
was  one  who  had  several  times  before  come  under 
the  watchful  eye  of  the  customs  officials. 

This  individual  was  David  Gold,  as  crooked  as 
a  flash  of  forked  lightning.  I  had  drummed  up  an 
acc|[uaintance  with  Gold  in  March  of  1897,  when,  as 
a  passenger  in  the  steamer  St.  Paul,  he  was  de- 
tained on  suspicion  and  a  parcel  of  diamonds 
found  in  his  old  clothing.  Reviewing  his  relations 
with  Lasar  at  this  late  day,  I  am  inclined  to  be- 
lieve that  he  had  as  much  reason  to  keep  Ivy 


46  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

Cruede  in  the  background  as  did  the  arch-smug- 
gler of  the  lot.  Right  or  wrong  in  this  belief  about 
Gold,  he  certainly  burned  midnight  oil  scheming 
to  keep  McCormack  from  Ivy  Cruede. 

The  moment  that  McCormack  reached  Liverpool 
he  placed  himself  in  communication  with  the  chief 
of  detectives  in  that  city,  and  never  for  a  mo- 
ment, as  has  since  transpired,  did  Gold  lose  track 
of  his  man.  It  took  McCormack  and  the  English 
police  forty-eight  hours  to  find  the  English  girl, 
and  when  they  did,  Gold  was  as  wise  as  were  they. 
It  was  midnight  when  McCormack  located  his 
quarry,  and  he  found  that  she  had  been  making 
her  living  for  some  months  painting  pictures.  It 
was  not  a  very  profitable  business,  judg:ing  from 
what  she  told  her  visitors,  and  she  readily  agreed 
to  go  to  America,  starting,  as  she  planned,  the  first 
thing  in  the  morning,  which  was  Saturday. 

McCormack  was  to  engage  passage  for  her  in 
an  outgoing  Cunarder  and  to  deliver  the  ticket  to 
her  at  her  apartments  the  following  morning.  Mc- 
Cormack, having  some  other  business  to  perform 
abroad,  told  the  woman  that  she  could  go  over 
unaccompanied.  To  this  she  readily  acquiesced, 
and  to  all  outward  appearances  the  programme 
was  as  cut  and  dried  when  McCormack  left  her 
that  night  as  plans  of  man  could  ever  be. 

Had  McCormack  watched  that  house  all  night, 
as  he  should  have  done,  he  would  have  seen  a 
Maiden  Lane  diamond  merchant  by  the  name  of 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  47 

Gold  steal  slyly  into  the  house  of  Ivy  Cruedei; 
would  have  seen  the  misguided  woman  leave  heij 
apartment  in  the  company  of  the  man,  who  thenl^ 
carried  a  valise  that  he  did  not  have  when  he  en-^ 
tered  there ;  and  he  would  have  observed  that  the 
first  London-bound  train  that  left  the  station  in 
the  small  hours  of  that  Saturday  morning  took/ 
the  couple  away. 

But  "Billy"  McCormack  was  honest,  and  he  be- 
lieved that  the  English  girl  would  keep  her  word 
with  him,  and  in  this  he  was  deceived.  When  he 
went  to  the  apartment  at  the  appointed  hour  that 
Saturday  morning,  the  bird  had  escaped  from  its 
cage.  He  cabled  to  this  side  that  the  woman  ha^ 
disappeared  and  that  other  business  prevented  his/ 
making  an  extended  search  for  her. 

Miss  Cruede  certainly  had  ample  reason  to  re- 
gret her  flight  with  Gold.  The  full-fledged  scoun- 
drel, who  still  holds  his  head  high  in  New  York 
business  circles,  engaged  a  suite  of  rooms  for  the 
girl  upon  their  arrival  in  London,  abused  her  in 
the  most  shameful  and  cowardly  way  possible,  and 
finally,  learning  that  McCormack  had  abandoned 
the  search,  threw  the  unfortunate  girl  upon  the 
mercy  of  the  town.  Such,  then,  was  the  character 
of  the  friend  and  confrere  of  Smuggler  Lasar. 
But  we  will  hear  more  of  Gold  later.  Sufficient 
unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof. 

During  McCormack 's  absence  in  Europe  IJiad 
busied  myself  in  an  endeavor  to  get  possession  of 


48  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

a  dress  that  Mi^s^Morris  Lasar  used  to  wear  dur- 
ing her  visits  to  Montreal.  It  was  made  like  an 
ordinary  costume,  except  that  the  skirt  at  its  lower 
part,  towards  the  middle,  had  a  row  of  little  pock- 
ets sewed  in  on  the  inside.  Into  these  pockets  she 
always  placed  the  packages  of  diamonds  that 
Brother-in-law  Lasar  gave  her.  The  contents  of 
the  pockets  were  protected  and  held  firmly  in  place 
by  a  stout  lapel  secured  with  a  button. 

Mrs.  Lasar  may  be  surprised  to  learn  that  I  ex- 
amined this  skirt  at  will  during  her  absence  from 
home  one  day,  and  that  I  subsequently  had  it,  con- 
tained in  a  stout  paper,  under  my  arm  ready  to 
carry  away;  but — well,  somebody  weakened,  and 
I  do  not  think  it  was  me.  That  was  the  last  I  ever 
saw  of  it,  try  as  I  did  to  get  it  from  the  house,  and 
I  am  led  to  believe,  in  view  of  previous  efforts  on 
his  part,  that  perhaps  Hotel-keeper  Lasar  buried 
it  in  one  of  his  several  cellars.  The  knowledge  of 
the  loss  to  the  Government  of  this  skirt,  and  the 
news  from  London  that  McCormack  had  tripped 
up  in  his  exploit  with  Ivy  Cruede,  coming  as  they 
did  almost  simultaneously,  were  very  depressing, 
to  say  the  least. 

/  It  was  at  this  critical  point  that  the  Treasury 
^Department,  through  General  Wellington,  decided 
ho  send  me  abroad  to  hunt  up  the  missing  English 
girl.  At  that  time  Assistant  District  Attorney 
Denby  was  in  Europe  on  some  government  mat- 
ters, and  I  was  instructed  to  consult  with  him  on 


THE  LASAK  DIAMOND  CASE  49 

my  arrival  abroad.  I  went  over  in  the  steamer  St.     j 
Louis,  arriving  August  14,  and  from  Plymouth    / 
cabled  to  Major  Williams  in  Paris  to  place  me  in  / 
communication  with  Mr.  Denby. 

After  many  apparently  insurmountable  difficul- 
ties, I  at  length  succeeded  in  locating  Ivy  Cruede, 
living"~in  London  in  a  furnisted'foom  house  on 
Great  Ru"s"SelT~Street,  in  rather  a  good  neighbor- 
hood. I  called  there  one  evening  and  was  told  that 
Miss  Cruede  was  out.  I  held  a  council  of  war  with 
a  street  lamp  at  the  nearest  corner  and  decided 
that  Miss  Cruede  was  not  out  and  that  I  must  see 
her.  In  response  to  my  second  call  a  little  maid, 
who  dropped  her  h's  all  over  the  floor,  smiled 
sweetly  when  I  slipped  a  half-crown  into  her  hand 
and  said  that  she  would  do  her  best  to  deliver  a 
message  to  Miss  Cruede.  ' '  Say  that  a  friend  from 
Liverpool  wishes  to  see  her,"  I  bade  the  maid,  as 
I  was  ushered  into  a  cosy  reception-room.  I  do 
not  know  what  merit  there  was  in  "that  friend 
from  Liverpool,"  but  the  message  acted  like  a 
charm,  and  soon  there  was  a  pitter-patter  of  small 
feet,  and  the  tiny  maid  returned  with  beaming 
face  to  tell  me  that  Miss  Cruede  was  at  home  and 
would  be  down  presently  to  see  me. 

I  was  taken  somewhat  aback  as  she  entered  the 
room.    I  had  expected  to  find  a  pretty  girl,  such 
as  was  described  to  me,  and  in  that  respect  I  was  i 
not  mistaken ;  but  the  slim,  good-looking  girl  that  ] 
entered  the  room  was  clearly  in  great  financial  dis- 


50  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

tress.  She  wore  a  little  white  duck  skirt  that  was 
torn  in  several  jolaces;  over  this  was  a  calico  shirt- 
waist, spotlessly  clean,  but  much  the  worse  for 
wear,  and  her  tiny  feet  were  encased  in  a  pair  of 
shoes  that  were  broken  in  every  part.  My  heart 
bled  for  her  the  moment  I  took  in  her  miserable 
appearance.  She  had  evidently  just  been  sewing, 
for  several  remnants  of  cotton  thread  hung  to  her 
skirt. 

The  unfortunate  girl  made  a  move  to  back  from 
the  room  when  she  saw  that  I  was  a  stranger,  and 
doubtless  imagined  the  worst — that  I  was  another 
of  the  breed  of  contemptible  human  dogs  that  she 
had  met  at  various  times  within  a  few  years,  and 
that,  like  these  passion-driven  band  of  free-lovers, 
I  had  suggestions  to  make  that  would  never  be  ful- 
filled.   So  I  said  to  her  before  she  managed  to  get,,^^ 
back  as  far  as  the  door:    "Miss  Cruede,  I  have\ 
/come  to  you  from  America  to  get  some  informa- / 
tion  about  Max  J.  Lasar.    Will  you  give  it  ? " 

Her  face  turned  red  immediately,  and  her  eyes, 
usually  large,  grew  so  big  that  I  thought  they 
would  pop  out  of  her  liead.  She  seemed  unable  to 
talk  for  the  moment,  but  presently  she  said : 

"Did  you  say  Max  J.  Lasar?  What  information 
do  you  want?    Is  it  for  or  against  the  man?" 

"It  is  decidedly  against  him,"  I  made  reply. 
"You  can  tell  me  a  great  deal  if  you  will." 

A  strange  look  came  over  her  face.  It  was  not 
a  vindictive  look,  but  it  meant  much,  whatever  it 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  51 

portrayed.  There  was  a  pause  of  some  seconds, 
and  I  could  see  that  the  woman  was  going  through 
the  fire  of  an  internal  disturbance.  Presently  she 
said,  half  to  me,  but  chiefly  as  if  communing  with 
her  own  soul : 

"He  treated  me  like  a  dog.  Why  should  I  stand 
by  him?    What  is  it  you  want  to  know!" 

In  a  few  words  I  told  her  what  the  American 
Government  had  done  and  what  it  knew.  At  the 
conclusion  of  the  recital  of  the  arrest  of  Lasar  and 
the  divorce  of  his  wife,  the  woman  said  that  if  she 
were  compensated  and  taken  care  of  she  would  be  / 
willing  to  go  to  America  and  tell  all  she  knew/ 
"But,"  said  she  at  this  point,  "how  do  I  know  that 
you  are  unlike  some  men  that  it  has  been  my  mis- 
fortune to  meet  ? ' ' 

"Simply  enough,"  I  rejoined.  "I  wjlL  engage 
a  woman  to  act  as^diaperon  to  you." 

"That  will  be  entirely  satisfactory,"  said  Miss 
Cruede.  "I  will  take  the  first  steamer  that  you 
select." 

There  was  something  about  the  woman  that  con- 
vinced me  that  she  could  be  trusted.  I  had  every 
reason  to  believe,  without  letting  her  know,  that 
she  had  been  accustomed  to  receiving  the  wrong 
bite  of  the  apple,  and,  although  I  then  knew  her 
not  except  by  reputation,  I  felt  convinced,  after 
looking  her  over  at  length,  that  if  she  pledged  her 
word  she  would  stand  by  it. 

To  make  sure  that  Miss  Cruede  would  not  be 


52  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

spirited  away  by  the  emissaries  of  Lasar,  I  se- 
cured the  services  of  two  of  the  best  men  that 
.--Scotland  Yard  could  afford.  I  shall  never  forget 
these  two  men.  One  was  a  strapping,  big  Irish- 
man, six  feet  two  inches  tall,  who  was  formerly 
of  the  Queen's  Guards.  He  had  a  wealth  of 
brogue  and  the  wit  of  Sam  Weller.  His  associate 
was  a  stumpy,  red-faced  Englishman,  who  learned 
his  knowing  ways  as  a  youth  on  top  of  an  omnibus 
that  he  drove.  He  was  of  the  Cockney  type, 
and  was  forever  disagreeing  with  his  companion 
as  to  the  proper  way  for  conducting  the  business 
of  a  modern  sleuth.  I  cannot  furnish  the  name  of 
either  man,  but  we  will  call  the  Irishman  Barney 
O'Day  and  his  partner  Albert  Palmer,  which  is 
not  far  from  the  real  thing.  O'Day  had  the  bar- 
rack-room fluency  of  the  great  Mulvaney,  and,  like 
that  distinguished  soldier,  was  forever  finding 
fault  with  himself,  his  business  and  his  surround- 
ings. He  didn't  relish  the  detective  business,  he 
frequently  said,  and,  copying  Mulvaney,  added  in 
an  apologetic  way  that  ''it  is  mate  an'  dhrink  to 
me,  bekaze  I'm  wan  av  the  few  that  can't  quit  ut." 

These  remarks  used  to  anger  Palmer,  who  con- 
sidered that  Scotland  Yard  was  the  hub  of  the  uni- 
verse and  that  thief-catching  was  the  special 
license  of  the  brainy  man. 

I  had  recounted  the  "peculiarities"  of  Miss 
^Cruede  to  the  men  several  times  before  O'Day 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  53 

broke  forth  with  an  opinion.  He  said,  after  he 
eyed  me  over  most  carefully : 

"Av  course,  the  'uman's  onprincipled.  I  niver 
saw  wan  that  wasn't.  'Tis  blayguards  they  all 
are.  Aven  me  pore  ould  mutlier  had  her  wake- 
nesses.  'Tis  none  av  me  business  an'  not  impert'- 
nint,  but  yere  in  luv  wid  the  'uman,  I  take  ut," 

I  did  not  satisfy  his  curiosity  on  that  score,  al- 
though I  repeated  that  my  only  ambition  was  to 
get  Miss  Cruede  across  the  ocean  to  serve  as  a 
witness.  Seeing  that  I  was  not  likely  to  make  my 
story  dovetail  with  his  belief,  he  finally  said : 

"Ye 're  honust,  I  dare  say.  Ut's  meself  that's 
tinder-hearted  'nuff  to  say  that.  Ut's  nothin'  to 
me,  though.    Phat's  the  use  av  digresshin'?" 

O'Day  and  Palmer  ranged  themselves  in  a  con- 
venient berth  a  short  distance  from  Miss  Cruede 's 
lodgings,  and  were  soon  observed  by  everybody  in 
the  neighborhood.  They  presently  agreed  that  it 
might  be  better  for  them  to  try  another  system  of 
watching  their  quarry,  and  Palmer  went  away.  He 
was  gone  about  a  half  hour,  when  up  from  the 
nearest  corner  came  one  of  the  grimiest-looking 
bootblacks  that  ever  walked  English  streets.  The 
tall  Irishman  no  sooner  saw  the  ragged  knight  of 
tlje  brush  than  he  walked  hastily  off  in  another 
iiirection. 

"Boots"  settled  down  to  a  comfortable  anchor- 
age on  a  brownstone  stoop  almost  diagonally 
across  from  the  dwelling  of  Miss  Cruede.    He  was 


54  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVEENMENT 

a  fat,  greasy-looking  bootblack,  but  seemingly 
happy,  for  he  whistled  and  hummed  as  he  picked 
at  his  black  fingers  or  overhauled  the  parapher- 
nalia of  his  box.  He  was  there  a  full  hour,  when 
he  was  joined  by  a  "boy"  who  had  a  bundle  of 
newspapers  stuck  under  his  arms  and  a  dilapi- 
dated cap  clinging  to  the  back  of  his  head.  The 
/'boy"  was  clearly  overgrown,  and  cut  quite  an 
odd  figure  as  compared  with  the  diminutive, 
though  stout,  bootblack  alongside  him. 

"I  must  be  a  laughin'  shtock,"  ventured  newsy, 
with  a  great  roll  of  the  Emerald  brogue. 

''More  like  a  bally  hidiot,"  said  Boots.  "A  reg- 
ular, bloomin'  scarecrow,  Hi'm  thinkin'." 

"Ye  dhirty  son  av  a  clodhopper!"  said  the 
other.  "Go  wash  yer  homely  mug.  Ye 're  a  dish- 
grace  to  the  prof esshion. ' ' 

At  that  moment  the  figure  of  Miss  Cruede  was 
seen  emerging  from  the  door  opposite,  and  with  a 
cautious  "phist!"  the  newsboy  hurried  from  his 
companion,  and  before  the  young  woman  had 
reached  the  foot  of  the  stoop  the  bundle  of  rags 
and  newspapers  was  at  her  side.  The  next  instant 
Boots,  on  the  opposite  side,  saw  that  the  newsboy 
was  in  conversation  with  Miss  Cruede  and  that  he 
was  pointing  significantly  in  his  direction. 

"  'E's  lioff  'is  'ead,"  soliloquized  the  bootblack, 
his  face  absolutely  turning  pale  through  its  cover 
of  grime  and  black.  "Poor  Barney!"  he  con- 
tinued half  aloud,  "it's  bally  mad  he  is." 


THE  LASAR  DIA:\[0ND  CASE  55 

''Shure,  miss,  'tis  a  bad,  dapraved  gossoon  is 
he,"  the  tattered  newsboy  was  saying  to  the  young 
woman,  as  with  closed  hand  he  indexed  with  his 
thumb  over  his  shoulder  in  the  direction  of  the 
bootblack.  ''He's  a  hired  murderher.  A  fri'nd 
of  his  i^hat  knows  yere  swate  colleen  face  has 
waxed  his  dhirty  fist  to  kape  an  eye  on  yer.  'Tis 
yer  loife  they're  after.  Go  back  beyant  that  dure 
an'  don't  stir  out  fer  the  rest  o'  the  night." 

"Do  you  mean  to  say  that  I  am  watched?"  in- 
quired Miss  Cruede,  backing  away  from  the  giant 
''newsboy"  and  making  no  attempt  to  disguise  her 
surprise. 

"Watched,  is  it?"  rejoined  the  human  rag-shop. 
' '  Yerra !  Bad  luck  to  me  pore  ould  blind  aunt  if 
ut's  not  blud  they  want.  Acushla,  'tis  the  thrutli 
I'm  tellin'  yer.  I'm  yer  fri'nd,  be  all  that's  howly, 
'pon  the  vartue  o'  me  oath.  Yer  raly  nade  a  fri'nd. 
Bechune  me  an'  you,  'twill  be  a  sorry  day  fer  yer 
if  yer  don't  stay  indures  this  blessed  night  of  our 
Lord.  Begor,  that  whippersnapper  beyant  will 
trate  yer  loike  a  pore,  homeless  hound  while  you'd 
be  saying  thropsticks.  He's  wurst  thin  a  furriner. 
Don't  ax  me  no  questions.  I  don't  know  phat  new 
divilment  he'll  be  up  to  nixt.  I'd  rather  thrust  a 
prefumed  jook  thin  him.  Don't  raison  it  out.  Go 
back  to  yer  bed,  alanna.  God  be  wid  yer,  a  hun- 
dred times.  And  may  His  Blissed  Mother  pur- 
tect  yer  from  that  shupporior  company  beyant. 
The  Dublin  jackeen!    Some  day  he'll  be  dancin' 


56    DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

'pon  nothin'.  Pleasant  dhreams  to  ye,  me  sweet 
colleen.  Don't  sbpake  a  word,  'uman.  Go  back. 
Lave  him  ter  me.  Be  hivens !  I'll  give  him  a  clout 
phat'll  hould  his  breath  fer  the  nixt  tin  years." 

The  next  moment  Miss  Cruedewas  ascending  the 
steps  to  her  lodgings  and  the  "newsboy"  was  rub- 
bing his  palm  against  a  half-crown  that  the  young 
woman  had  given  him. 

"  'Tis  tuppence  of  Scotch  fer  me,"  said  the 
newsboy,  as  he  joined  the  bootblack  on  the  other 
side  of  the  way,  first  seeing,  however,  that  Miss 
Cruede  had  disappeared  from  view. 

"Is  hit  mad  you  are  I"  inquired  Boots.  "What 
did  you  say  to  'er  ? ' ' 

"Aisy,  aisy,  me  laddie  buck,"  said  the  newsboy. 
"Kem  down  ter  the  Rid  Lion  wid  me,  yer  dirty 
whipster.  'Tis  a  bad  character  yer  have  wid  that 
gurl.  Whisha,  but  ye 're  a  d — n  black  schoundrel ! 
How  the  byes  will  laugh  when  I  tells  thim.  Och, 
wirra,  wirra !  'tis  sublime.  A  grate  sacret  I've, 
ter  tell  yer.  I  wondher  who  tould  her  phat  an 
ould  villant  yer  are  f  Kape  yer  timper  whin  I  talk 
ter  yer!  'Tisn't  by  book  I'arnin',  but  by  honest 
labor  that  I  won  me  fame.  Gibberish,  yer  say? 
Scotch,  say  I.  Aisy  got,  aisy  gone.  Shure,  the 
stuff's  chape." 

The  Irish  detective  kissed  his  hand  to  the  mute 
front  door  of  Miss  Cruede  as  he  continued: 

"The  onprincipled  brazen-face!     It's  addiyou. 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  57 

not  0  revwar,  me  gurl.  Quare  how  silent  yer  are, 
Palmer!" 

The  English  sleuth  was  indeed  disinclined  to 
conversation.  He  was  accustomed  to  the  oddities 
of  his  associate,  but  he  questioned  his  judgment  in 
this  matter.    At  length  he  said : 

''You  spoiled  the  whole  bloomin'  iioutfit  this 
time.  AAliat  in  the  name  of  'Arry  did  you  do  hit 
for?  She'll  tumble  now,  sure,  with  your  bally 
blarney." 

"Me  pore,  misguided  omadhaun,"  rejoined  the 
Irishman,  ''don't  preshume  to  know  anythin'. 
Thumble,  is  it  ?  Nabochlish !  I  hev  her  frightened 
out  o'  her  loife.  Ye 're  a  blud-dyed  cutthroat — 
that 's  phat  yer  are.  She  'd  sooner  thry  ter  shtand 
on  her  head  thin  mate  yer  this  night.  Ye 're  per- 
fectly incorrigible,  that's  phat  yer  are.  Yerra,  but 
ye 're  a  decomposed  egg.  Yer  bad  reputathion 
saves  that  good  'uman.  I'll  kape  an  eye  on  her 
fri'nds,  though.    Let's  furst  get  a  dhrink." 

And  the  Irish  detective  and  his  pal  went  down 
the  street  towards  the  Eed  Lion,  the  big  son  of  the 
Emerald  Isle  humming  as  he  went : 

"A  thrate,  a  thrate,  if  of  the  best, 
We  hope  in  heaven  your  sowl  will  rest; 
But  if  you  give  it  of  the  small. 
It  won't  agree  with  our  boys  at  all." 

Barney  O'Day  was  not  half  as  insane  as  Albert 
Palmer  thought.    Several  times  that  night,  while 


58  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

both  were  watching  from  ''across  the  way,"  a  dap- 
per-looking "furriner,"  as  O'Day  described  him, 
rang  the  bell  to  Miss  Cruede's  lodgings  and,  as  he 
subsequently  learned,  asked  for  her.  She  pictured 
the  bloodthirsty  wretch  whom  the  good-hearted 
newsboy  had  pointed  out  to  her,  and,  not  being 
particularly  anxious  to  cultivate  the  acquaintance 
of  an  undertaker,  as  she  supposed,  remained  in- 
doors until  I  came  and  took  her  away  from  those 
who  wanted  to  make  a  plaything  of  her.  Barney 
O'Day  may  be  considered  crude  in  his  work,  but 
a  better  "poluss"  never  drank  liquor  in  the  Caws- 
tle  cellars.  Goodness  only  knows  from  what  he 
saved  Ivy  Cruede  that  night.  Like  Ortheris,  I  fre- 
quently ''sigh  for  London  and  her  rotten  smells" 
that  I  might  again  see  Barney  0  'Day. 

I  take  pleasure  in  stating  that  my  original  im- 
pression of  Miss  Cruede's  sense  of  honesty  was  in 
no  way  lessened  by  time.  If  anything  it  was  im- 
proved. She  was  loyal  to  her  word  right  to  the 
very  last.  Before  I  left  the  woman  the  night  of 
,  our  first  meeting  I  gave  her  a  sufficient  sum  of 
/  money  to  purchase  clothing  necessary  for  the  trip. 
While  she  was  doing  this  I  went  about  in  search 
of  a  chaperon.  Of  the  latter  I  cannot  say  too  much 
in  praise. 

I  am  under  a  solemn  obligation  to  the  woman, 
and  to  the  Government  as  well,  not  to  reveal  her 
name.     Let  her,  for  the  sake  of  convenience,  be 


THE  LA8AK  DIA^^LOND  CASE  59 

known  as  Mrs.  Castleton.  It  is  in  the  hope  of  re- 
paying in  a  small  way  the  many  acts  of  kindness 
of  the  woman  that  I  here  say  of  her :  There  never 
lived  a  more  faithful  woman,  a  purer-minded 
woman  or  a  more  loyal  friend.  Stacks  of  money 
were  used  by  the  enemy  to  bribe  the  English  chap- 
eroiTTTito  ''losing"  her  charge.  Her  life  was  even 
threatened  by  the  friends  of  Lasar,  and  spies  and 
detectives  hounded  her  every  step,  until  her  very 
existence  became  almost  unbearable. 

Mrs.  Castleton  had  the  patience  of  a  lamb,  but 
she  likewise  had  the  tenacity  of  a  bull  pup  when 
she  made  up  her  mind  to  protect  the  motherless 
English  girl,  and  she  did  her  duty  willingly  and 
well.  It  is  not  necessary  to  detail  the  many  sacri- 
fices that  she  made,  nor  is  it  essential  to  tell  how 
Miss  Cruede  was  Quick  to  recognize  that  shejxad 
at  least  found  a  true^  friend  in  this  noble  woman. 
Much  may  be  skipped  in  the  recital,  including  sev- 
eral unpleasant  incidents  during  the  trip  to  New 
York  in  the  steamer  Cymric. 

Our  coming  threw  a  thunderbolt  into  the  camp 
of  the  opposition,  but  we  were  not  ten  hours  in  the 
metropolis  before  there  were  half  a  dozen  Hawk- 
shaws  hot  after  our  trail.  Their  presence  became 
so  marked  and  objectionable  that  it  became  neces- 
sary to  steal  the  English  witness  and  her  com- 
panion out  of  the,  city  in  the  middle  of  the  night. 
i  had  the  advice  of  Collector  Bidwell  and  the  Dis- 
trict Attorney  to  leave  the  metropolis  with  the  two 


60  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

women  and  not  to  return  until  the  day  set  for  the^ 
^■rial. 

AVe  got  away  in  splendid  shape,  as  we  then 
thought,  and  were  chatting  and  congratulating 
ourselves  on  the  train  that  was  destined  to  take  us 
to  Lenox,  Massachusetts,  when  we  made  the  dis- 
j.^'^covery  that  at  the  rear  end  of  our  car  sat  one  of 
the  private  detectives  who  had  shadowed  us  since 
we  landed  from  the  Cymric.  I  thought  perhaps 
we  might  be  able  to  throw  him  off  our  scent,  but 
concluded  that  I  was  over-confident  when,  as  I 
happened  to  pass  him  a  few  moments  later,  I  heard 
him  say  to  the  porter  of  the  car : 

'M  am  going  to  Lenox.  You  need  not  make  up 
my  berth  just  yet.    I  am  in  no  hurry  to  turn  in. ' ' 

It  being  quite  apparent  that  he  knew  where  we 
were  going,  it  was  decided  to  brazen  it  out  for 
the  time  being,  and  we  went  straight  to  Lenox.  I 
had  Mrs.  Castleton  keep  her  eye  on  the  modern 
Holmes  for  an  hour  after  luncheon  at  the  hotel, 
while  I  got  on  the  long-distance  telephone  and 
called  up  General  Wellington,  to  whom  I  detailed 
the  situation.  He  asked  what  could  bo  done,  and 
I  advised  that  a  capable  Secret  Service  man  be 
sent  on  to  Lenox  to  assist  me.  I  told  the  General 
that  I  did  not  want  the  Secret  Service  man  to  be 
in  my  party,  but  to  watch  the  private  detective 
and  report  to  me  what  that  individual  was  doing 
from  time  to  time. 

Secret  Service  Detective  Roan  arrived  on  the 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  61 

scene  the  next  morning,  but,  of  course,  did  not 
recognize  me.  I  dropped  him  a  note  in  the  mail, 
saying  that  I  intended  to  start  the  next  day  for 
Great  Barrington.  This  we  all  did.  But  the  vil- 
lain still  pursued  her.  He  was  as  chic  as  a  queen 
of  May,  as  bold  as  a  turkey  buzzard,  and  withal 
as  ubiquitous  as  the  wants  of  the  poor.  He  had 
all  the  confidence  of  youth,  too,  and  he  never  for 
a  moment  imagined,  so  far  as  we  could  ascertain, 
that  we  knew  a  blessed  thing  about  his  existence, 
his  energy  or  his  inexperience.  Yet  with  all  this 
inexperience  he  never  lost  track  of  us  for  a  mo- 
ment. He  was  young  and  green,  but  he  was  reso- 
lute and  courageous.  One  of  these  days  he  will 
make  a  great  detective,  if  somebody  does  not  sever 
his  windpipe. 

That  I  might  finish  some  business  in  New  York, 
and  at  the  same  time  possibly  mix  up  the  ambi- 
tions of  our  young  friend,  it  was  decided  that  I 
leave  Great  Barrington  and  return  to  the  metrop- 
olis. Roan  remained  behind.  I  had  been  in  New 
York  but  five  days  when  I  received  a  telephone 
message  from  Mrs.  Castleton. 

"Come  here  as  soon  as  you  possibly  can,"  the 
chaperon  said  to  me  over  the  wire.  ''A  woman 
has  been  here  to  see  me.  She  suggested  that  if  I 
were  to  leave  Great  Barrington  at  once  and  leave 
Ivy  Cruede  alone  I  would  receive  five  thousand 
dollars  in  cash.    She  is  here  now.    I  have  told  her 


62  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

that  she  will  have  my  answer  this  evening.  Don't 
lose  a  moment,  but  come." 

The  woman  was  gone  when  I  arrived  there.  Mrs. 
Castleton  says  that  we  crossed  each  other  en  route. 
I  asked  for  details,  and  the  companion  of  the  Eng- 
lish witness  told  me  the  following  story : 

"Roan  was  busy  watching  the  private  detective 
and  was  absent  from  the  hotel.  The  woman  ar- 
rived unattended  and  sent  up  word  to  Miss 
Cruede's  room  that  an  agent  of  the  Government 
wished  to  see  her.  I  saw  the  woman  instead.  She 
gave  me  a  card  bearing  the  name  of  Mrs.  Tiffany, 
and  said  that  she  resided  at  the  Fifth  Avenue  Ho- 
tel in  New  York.  She  made  the  proposition  to  me 
in  the  most  cold-blooded  fashion.  She  said  that 
I  was  a  fool  to  stand  by  and  earn  my  living  piece- 
meal when  I  might  walk  away  on  the  next  train 
out  of  town  and  be  richer  by  five  thousand  dollars. 

"I  am  afraid  that  I  showed  my  indignation.  At 
all  events  I  tried  not  to,  and  said  as  calmly  as  I 
could  that  I  would  consider  the  proposition  and  let 
her  know.  She  went  away  and  in  a  few  hours  sent 
me  a  note  saying  that  if  I  decided  to  avail  myself 
of  the  chance  to  please  telegraph  her  at  the  Fifth 
Avenue  Hotel  in  New  York  making  an  appoint- 
ment. Here  is  the  note.  I  will  give  you  an  accu- 
rate description  of  the  woman.  I  hope  you  will 
catch  her.  She  ought  to  be  punished.  She  looked 
respectable,  but,  my!  she  cannot  be." 

I  was  whirling  back  to  New  York  in  the  mid- 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  63 

night  train.  Mrs.  Castleton  was  for  going  with 
me,  that  she  might  pick  out  the  woman  at  the  Fifth 
Avenue  Hotel.  Her  judgment  was  poor  in  this 
instance,  and  I  told  her  so.  Better  to  lose  the  fair 
briber  than  to  lose  Ivy  Cruede.  The  chaperon 
agreed  with  me  after  we  had  thrashed  the  matter 
over  several  times,  and  before  I  left  she  sent  a  tel- 
egram to  Mrs.  Tiffany,  saying  that  she  would  be 
at  the  hotel  in  New  York  at  three  next  day. 

As  the  result  of  a  conference  with  the  District 
Attorney  and  Collector  Bidwell  the  following 
morning  the  latter  sent  for  the  Surveyor  of  the 
Port,  since  deceased,  who  was  let  into  the  situa- 
tion. It  was  suggested  to  the  Surveyor  that  the 
use  of  two  inspectresses  might  be  of  considerable 
value  to  me  in  running  down  Mrs.  Tiffany,  and 
two  women  whose  regular  business  it  is  to  meet 
incoming  steamers  upon  their  arrival  at  the  city's 
piers  were  assigned  to  the  mission  of  meeting  me 
at  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel  that  afternoon. 

We  waited  about  the  parlors  of  the  hotel  for 
over  an  hour,  and  we  learned,  as  many  others  have 
done,  that  it  takes  two  to  make  an  engagement.  I 
had  Mi-s.  Tiffany's  genuine  New  York  address,  but 
I  never  expected  to  find  her  after  she  failed  to  put 
in  an  appearance  at  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel.  Our 
least  expectations  are  sometimes  realized,  how- 
ever, and  I  struck  up  an  acquaintance  with  the 
would-be  briber  when  I  was  not  looking  for  the 
immediate  honor. 


y 

CHAPTEE  IV 

Mrs.  Tiffany  hac"  given  Mrs.  Castleton  an  ad- 
dress on  West  104th  Street,  near  Amsterdam  Ave- 
nue, as  her  permanent  abode.  It  was  but  a  step  or 
two  out  of  my  way  on  my  journey  homeward,  and 
after  leaving  the  inspectresses  I  determined  to 
call  there.  At  Sixty-sixth  Street  there  is  a  junc- 
tion of  the  Boulevard  and  Amsterdam  Avenue, 
and  I  left  the  car  there  to  connect  with  the  Am- 
sterdam Avenue  route.  While  waiting  for  the 
electric  conveyance  to  come  along  it  suddenly 
dawned  upon  me  that  I  was  within  a  stone's  throw 
of  a  cigar  store  that  made  a  specialty  of  maintain- 
ing private  letter-boxes.  I  recalled  that  Mrs.  Tif- 
fany had  told  the  chaperon  that  she  received  all 
her  mail  at  this  establishment,  and  also  recollected 
that  it  was  to  this  hotbed  of  crookedness  that  the 
baiting  telegram  was  sent  by  Mrs.  Castleton. 

I  changed  my  mind  about  going  immediately  up- 
town and  sauntered  off  in  the  direction  of  the  cigar 
store.  As  I  approached  it  my  attention  was  at- 
tracted in  some  unexplainable  way  to  a  woman 
who  was  standing  in  front  of  a  florist's  window 
admiring  a  basket  of  flowers.    She  was  short  and 

64 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  65 

rather  gaudily  dressed,  I  thought,  and  I  might 
have  been  content  with  one  passing  glance  had  she 
not  turned  her  face  so  that  I  could  get  an  excellent 
look  at  her.  I  do  not  know  why,  but  it  struck  me 
on  the  instant  that  if  this  was  not  Mrs.  Tiffany  it 
was  surely  her  twin  sister. 

First  impulse  suggested  that  I  step  up  and  ad- 
dress her,  but  I  passed  on  when  the  more  mature 
second  thought  dictated  that  I  go  to  the  back- 
ground and  watch  her.  I  had  not  long  to  wait  be- 
fore she  left  the  florist's  window  and  went  straight 
to  the  cigar  store,  which  she  entered.  I  was  almost 
at  her  heels  as  she  went  in,  and  while  the  shop- 
keeper's assistant  was  engaged  in  serving  me  with 
some  of  the  weed  I  noticed  that  the  proprietor 
came  forward,  bowed  knowingly  to  the  woman, 
went  to  a  nest  of  pigeon-holes,  and  withdrawing  a 
letter,  gave  it  to  her.  I  did  not  give  the  woman  a 
chance  to  leave  the  place  before  I  accosted  her. 

"This  is  Mrs.  Tiffany?"  I  inquired. 

''Yes.  How  do  you  do?"  was  her  response, 
wishing  to  convey  the  erroneous  impression  to  her 
eager  listeners  that  we  had  met  at  some  distant 
time.  Not  preferring  to  run  the  chances  of  a  scene 
on  the  street,  and  realizing  the  importance  of  let- 
ting the  attaches  of  the  shop  hear  what  I  had  to 
say,  I  ignored  the  solicitous  inquiry  as  to  my 
health  and  said : 

* '  The  United  States  District  Attorney  wants  to 


G()    DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

see  you,  madam.  I  am  an  officer  of  the  Govern- 
ment. Here  is  my  authority,  and  if  you  offer  any 
resistance  I  shall  be  obliged  to  perform  the  unde- 
sired  duty  of  calling  a  police  officer  to  take  you  to 
the  Federal  Building." 

She  never  so  much  as  arched  her  well-groomed 
eyebrows,  if  she  felt  any  touch  of  surprise,  and 
without  a  moment's  hesitation  she  announced  that 
she  would  recompany  me.  I  took  her  downtown 
in  an  elevated  railroad  train,  and,  without  any 
prompt'  ig  on  my  part,  she  said  as  we  neared  our 
destine .  :ion : 

''I  have  been  reflecting  quite  energetically  since 
we  met,  and  I  suppose  that  I  may  just  as  well  make 
a  clean  breast  of  the  whole  affair.  I  confess  that 
it  was  I  who  had  an  interview  at  Great  Barrington 
with  Mrs.  Castleton.  I  offered  her  five  thousand 
dollars  because  I  was  sent  to  do  so.  I  haven't  that 
much  money,  and  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  I 
would  not  spend  it  in  buying  up  middle-aged  chap- 
erons if  I  had.  I  did  it  for  a  friend,  as  you  doubt- 
less imagine.  I  will  not  tell  that  friend's  name. 
All  I  will  say  is  that  he  does  not  know  this  Cruede 
girl  and  that  he  in  turn  is  acting  for  another 
friend.  Well,  I  do  not  mind  giving  you  the  name 
of  the  latter.    It  is  David  Gold.    He  is " 

The  woman  must  have  noticed  that  my  counte- 
nance changed  with  the  mention  of  the  name,  for 
she  stopped  short,  looked  at  me  closely  and  in- 
quired : 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  67 

"Do  you  know  Mr.  Gold?  I  assure  you  that  I 
do  not." 

''Yes,"  I  made  reply,  ''I  know  the  man,  and  a 
bigger  rascal  never  lived,  unless  it  is  the  devil 
himself.  1  half  suspected  that  he  had  a  finger  in 
this  thing." 

*'He  was  in  it  hand  and  glove,  rather  than  a 
mere  finger,"  said  the  woman,  as  the  ghost  of  a 
smile  flitted  over  her  hand-painted  face.  I  took 
a  more  serious  view  of  Gold,  and  told  the  woman 
how  shamefully  he  had  treated  the  Cruede  girl 
while  they  were  in  London.  Mrs.  Tiffany  was  a 
woman  of  the  world,  and  she  had  that  deep  feeling 
of  sympathy  which  her  kind  usually  evinces  for 
one  of  her  abused  sex.    So  she  said  impetuously : 

"The  wretch!  But  my  friend  Goldsmith  did 
not  know  this,  or  he  never  would  have " 

She  brought  up  quickly,  realizing  that  she  had 
inadvertently  dropped  the  very  name  I  wanted 
to  get.  Seeing  that  I  understood,  she  stammered 
out  something  that  was  anintelligible,  and  finally 
commanding  herself,  said: 

"Yes,  Mr.  Goldsmith  is  interested  in  me.  He  is 
my  friend.  To  oblige  him  I  did  this  nasty  thing  for 
that  man  Gold." 

I  did  not  have  to  ask  her  who  Goldsmith  was. 
I  knew,  lie,  too,  was  a  bad  egg,  and  the  Govern- 
ment had  evidence  that  he  was  in  the  same  disrep- 
utable business  that  Lasar  had  carried  on  for 
years.    It  was  like  drinking  poison  from  a  gold 


6S    DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

cup  for  this  woman  to  tell  anything  about  Gold- 
smith, but  she  was  not  of  the  backing-out  kind, 
and,  realizing  that  it  was  better  to  fall  from  a 
window  than  from  a  roof,  she  unhesitatingly  told 
me  the  remainder  of  the  story. 

The  moment  I  delivered  Mrs.  Tiffany  to  the  Dis- 
trict Attorney  I  went  after  Goldsmith  and  had 
him  in  the  same  room  with  Mrs.  Tiffany  inside  two 
hours.  He  did  not  know  that  she  had  been  ar- 
rested, but  when  he  saw  her  he  advised  her  to 
make  a  sworn  statement  to  the  whole  affair,  which 
she  accordingly  did.  Tighter  every  hour  was  the 
noose  drawing  around  Lasar's  neck. 

We  had  half  a  dozen  men  scattered  broadcast 
within  the  next  few  days  trying  to  get  Gold,  but 
he  was  a  wary  dog  and  managed  to  keep  under 
cover.  He  was  seemingly  never  idle,  for  all 
that.  Reports  from  Great  Barrington  were  none 
too  good,  and  it  was  decided  to  take  the  two  women 
away  from  there  and  keep  them  on  the  move.  A 
month  of  wandering  about  followed  my  convoy  of 
them  from  the  Massachusetts  town.  From  Wash- 
ington we  went  to  Baltimore,  Atlantic  City  and 
Philadelphia.  Tlie  enemy  was  ever  active  and  des- 
tiny was  against  us. 

Instead  of  there  being  one  or  two  detectives  to 
watch  our  movements,  they  kept  cropping  up  in 
singles  and  pairs  until  the  very  atmosphere  about 
us  reeked  with  their  presence.  At  times  we  grew 
light-hearted  in  the  belief  that  we  had  succeeded 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  69 

in  ridding  ourselves  of  the  objectionable  pseudo- 
companions,  but  the  elation  was  only  transitory. 
The  shadow  of  misgivings  usually  remained  be- 
hind and  would  darken  into  the  grim  reality  that 
the  guest  at  this  or  that  hotel,  whom  we  never  sus- 
pected, was  a  new  agent  of  the  gang  of  smugglers. 

The  result  was  that  the  little  English  girl  found 
herself  at  times  on  the  verge  of  nervous  prostra- 
tion, and  her  suffering  was  more  than  medical  aid 
could  control  or  assuage.  The  chaperon  also  was 
under  great  mental  pressure.  The  operations  of 
the  detectives  possessed  a  character  of  uncertainty 
that  was  very  stimulating  to  her  at  first.  She  soon 
became  weary  of  the  ceaseless  hounding,  however. 

From  Philadelphia  we  returned  to  New  York, 
and  for  the  first  time  in  months  we  lost  track  of 
the  sleuths  for  days.  Perhaps  they  had  not  lost 
our  trail,  but  they  were  not  to  be  seen  on  the  sur- 
face for  a  whole  week,  and  we  noticed  a  marked 
relief  in  the  perturbation  of  Miss  Cruede's  spirits. 
She  was  jolly  and  chatted  like  her  old  self.  She 
even  consented  to  go  out  walking  with  her  chap- 
eron, and  was  enjoying  a  constitutional  one  after- 
noon, humming  a  sweet  little  bar  of  music,  like  one 
sailing  through  the  air  of  thorough  happiness, 
when  she  happened  to  turn  around  and  observe 
something  that  made  her  heart  droop  to  the  depths 
of  despair.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  street,  half 
a  block  behind  them,  was  a  woman  of  fifty-odd 
years.    Miss  Cruede  recognized  her  immediately, 


70  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

and,  trembling  like  a  leaf,  drew  up  closer  to  her 
companion. 

''Do  not  turn  around,"  she  said  in  a  hoarse 
whisper.  "We  are  again  discovered.  This  time 
there  is  a  woman  in  the  case.  It  is  that  woman 
who  was  at  the  hotel  in  Atlantic  City,  and  who 
left  the  same  day  that  we  did.  I  never  suspected 
that  she  could  be  up  to  such  a  mean  trick. ' ' 

The  English  girl  had  made  no  mistake.  The 
female  detective  had  replaced  the  female  briber, 
and  one  was  about  as  clumsy  as  the  other.  "We 
had  to  take  to  the  wing  again,  and  that  evening 
found  us  chewing  the  cud  of  doubt  and  misery  at 
Saratoga.  We  had  gone  to  the  famous  watering- 
place  as  the  last  stand  in  a  nerve-destroying  fight, 
and  in  the  Whittingtonian  hope  of  leaving  the  en- 
emy's scouts  hull  down  we  had  purposely  left  all 
personal  baggage  behind. 

Express  men  are  like  cab-drivers  and  waiters. 
I  never  saw  one  of  either  branch  of  this  Pry  fam- 
ily who  could  not  be  bought,  and  the  member  of  it 
who  sold  himself  to  the  pursued  for  five  dollars 
was  invariably  willing  to  tell  the  pursuer  for  less 
money  what  he  knew  of  the  whole  affair.  They 
say  that  women  have  long  tongues,  but  they  are 
in  an  inferior  class  to  the  jehu  and  flunkey,  espe- 
cially if  the  palm  is  held  downward,  with  some- 
thing inviting  in  it.  One  does  not  have  to  be  a 
world-beater  in  the  detecting  line,  but  it  is  a  sim- 
ple task  to  become  one  if  the  ambitious  applicant 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  71 

for  that  honor  has  a  great,  fat  wallet  and  knows 
when,  how  and  where  to  apply  the  greasing  lubri- 
cant. 

Josli  Billings'  rule  that  silence  was  a  hard  argu- 
ment to  beat  was  not  intended  for  the  realm  of  the 
royal  houses  of  Greenbacks  and  Curious.  One 
buys  silence ;  the  other  breaks  it.  We  were  scarce- 
ly arrived  in  Saratoga  when  Greenback  bought  all 
that  Curious  knew,  and  once  more  we  had  the  un- 
invited guest  at  our  elbows.  But  a  day  of  reckon- 
ing was  near  at  hand,  though  the  faithful  spies 
knew  it  not. 

It  was  the  middle  of  October  in  1898  when  we 
reached  Saratoga.  We  might  have  undertaken  a 
much  longer  trip,  but  the  time  for  the  trial  of  Max 
Lasar  was  rapidly  coming  around,  and  we  did  not 
dare  to  go  outside  of  a  distance  of  five  or  six  hours 
from  the  metropolis.  We  were  at  the  Springs 
about  a  week,  when  a  telegram  was  received  an- 
nouncing that  the  trial  was  to  begin  October  28. 
We  started  back  two  days  ahead  of  this  date,  and 
when  our  train  reached  Albany  it  became  neces- 
sary to  transfer  our  luggage  from  the  Delaware 
and  Hudson  depot  to  that  of  the  New  York  Cen- 
tral. It  was  while  doing  this  that  I  noticed  the 
peculiar  actions  of  a  young  man  whose  face 
seemed  familiar  to  me,  but  whose  identity  I  could 
not  fully  establish.  He  hung  around  the  baggage- 
room,  though  he  made  no  apiilication  for  transfer 
or  other  checks,  and  I  left  him  standing  there,  as 


72    DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

I  supposed ;  but  he  walked  into  the  railroad  dining- 
room  the  moment  that  we  took  our  seats  for  lunch- 
eon. I  asked  Roan  if  he  had  seen  the  man  before, 
and  he  replied  that  he  had  not.  He  was  quite  sure 
of  it,  he  added. 

"Well,  I  think  I  have  seen  him  somewhere  be- 
fore, and  I  will  take  a  flyer  at  him  at  Poughkeep- 
sie,"  said  I. 

We  were  not  twenty  miles  south  of  Albany  when 
the  four  of  us  agreed  that  even  the  train  crew  were 
looking  upon  us  with  suspicion.  The  only  infer- 
ence that  could  be  made  was  that  our  pursuers  had 
suggested  that  they  be  told  when  we  alighted, 
doubtless  hoodwinking  the  conductor  and  his  as- 
sistants into  the  belief  that  we  were  of  the  dan- 
gerous class  and  needed  looking  after.  I  went 
through  the  train  to  ascertain  if  the  young  man 
I  had  noticed  at  Albany  was  on  board.  I  found 
him  in  the  smoking-car,  but  he  left  this  and  took 
a  seat  in  the  car  ahead  of  the  one  in  which  Ivy 
Cruede  rode. 

I  asked  Roan  to  go  into  the  car  and  take  a  good 
look  at  the  object  of  my  suspicion,  but  for  some 
reason  or  another  he  was  unable  to  find  him. 
though  I  furnished  an  excellent  description.  This 
seemed  strange  to  me,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  each 
time  I  went  into  the  car  I  had  no  trouble  in  loca- 
ting the  man.  As  our  train  approached  Pough- 
keepsie  I  said  to  Roan : 

"Take  care  of  the  ladies  when  we  stop  and  see 


T^E  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  73 

that  they  get  ashore  all  right.  I  want  to  leave  this 
train  before  it  stops,  and  I  will  wager  any  sum 
you  like  that  the  next  man  who  follows  me  off  will 
be  that  chap  in  the  car  ahead." 

I  was  a  trifle  wrong  in  my  prediction.  The  first 
man  to  jump  off  the  train  as  she  pulled  into  the 
depot  was  our  friend  the  enemy.  He  rushed  into 
the  baggage-room,  left  his  valise  there  and  hurried 
into  the  street.  As  he  did  so  I  confronted  him.  The 
following  dialogue  then  took  place,  he  being  two- 
thirds  angry  and  I  all  parts  determined: 

"What  do  you  mean  by  following  me?" 

"I  am  not  following  you  or  anybody  else.  If 
my  i^resence  in  Poughkeepsie  be  obnoxious  to  you 
I  shall  return  to  New  York." 

"You  are  a  private  detective,  and  a  pretty  poor 
specimen  of  one,  at  that.  If  you  persist  in  follow- 
ing me  I  shall  see  that  you  are  locked  up." 

* '  You  cannot  have  me  arrested.  I  know  what  I 
am  doing." 

"We  shall  see  about  that,"  was  my  rejoinder, 
and  calling  to  Eoan,  who  was  but  a  few  steps 
away,  I  said:  "Roan,  take  this  fellow  to  Police 
Headquarters,  and  I  will  take  the  ladies  to  a  hotel 
and  register.  I'll  be  with  you  in  a  jiffy  to  make  a 
charge  against  him." 

"AVhat  is  your  authority  for  locking  me  up?" 
demanded  the  man,  as  Roan  took  him  by  the  arm. 

"I  do  not  know  anybody  who  has  more,"  was 
wliat  Roan  said,  in  such  a  quiet  way  as  to  make 


74    DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNM.^NT 

the  thrust  the  deeper,  and  the  man  seemed  with- 
ered by  the  look  of  disgust  which  the  Secret  Ser- 
vice man  bestowed  upon  him.  But  he  revived  and 
demanded  the  protection  of  a  passing  policeman. 
The  latter  tried  first  to  propitiate  all  parties,  but  he 
saw  that  Eoan  was  obdurate  and  he  advised  the 
young  man  to  go  to  Police  Headquarters. 

"All  right,  then,"  he  made  reply.  "I  will  go 
if  you  take  me,  but  I  will  not  go  with  anybody 
else." 

"He  must  be  in  love  with  me,"  said  the  police- 
man in  an  undertone,  and  then  in  an  impressive 
way  he  said  to  the  young  man :  ' '  Come  along,  me 
laddibuck." 

While  Eoan  was  arraigning  his  prisoner  at  Po- 
lice Headquarters  the  latter  took  from  an  inside 
pocket  several  memorandum  books  and,  unob- 
served, as  he  thought,  slipped  them  behind  the 
chief  of  police's  desk  and  the  wall.  Neither  Roan 
nor  myself  saw  him  do  it,  but  there  were  a  pair 
of  eyes  on  the  man  in  his  sleight-of-hand  work, 
and  the  eyes  belonged  to  a  detective-sergeant  of 
Poughkeepsie,  who  was  off  one  side  and  supposed- 
ly a  disinterested  spectator. 

The  moment  the  prisoner  stepped  into  the  Re- 
corder's room,  which  was  close  by,  this  detective- 
sergeant  took  the  books  and  turned  them  over  to 
the  Recorder,  who  afterwards  handed  them  over 
to  me  for  inspection.  I  had  not  time  to  examine 
them  closely,  but  one  or  two  glances  were  sufficient 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  75 

to  establish  the  fact  that  the  man  was  employed  by 
a  well-known  detective  agency  of  New  York  and 
that  he  had  been  shadowing  us  for  some  time.  Tho 
memoranda  told  of  the  money  that  he  had  spent, 
and  otherwise  consisted  of  a  complete  diary  of 
what  he  had  been  doing  for  more  than  four  weeks. 
Being  told  by  the  Recorder  that  the  books  showed 
him  to  be  a  private  detective,  he  acknowledged  the 
soft  impeachment,  said  that  his  name  was  Myers, 
and  furnished  the  name  of  his  employer,  to  whom 
he  subsequently  telegraphed. 

The  Recorder  held  Myers  for  disorderly  con- 
duct  and  adjourned  the  case  until  the  following 
morning.  The  employer  of  the  prisoner  arrived 
in  Poughkeepsie  that  night  and  engaged  the  best 
local  lawyer  available.  When  the  case  was  called 
I  was  unsupported  by  legal  talent,  and,  as  a  result, 
was  handled  unsparingly  by  the  lawyer  for  Myers. 

The  Recorder  asked  me  why,  in  my  opinion,  the 
man  should  be  held,  and  I  made  reply : 

"This  man  was  detained  by  us  for  interfering 
with  a  Government  witness.  In  a  conversation 
over  the  telephone  I  explained  to  General  Welling- 
ton, the  United  States  District  Attorney,  the  de- 
tails of  the  arrest,  and  he  has  instructed  me  to  re- 
quest you  to  surrender  the  prisoner  to  Secret  Ser- 
vice Agent  Roan  for  the  purpose  of  taking  him  to 
New  York  for  arraignment. ' ' 

The  Recorder  was  about  to  speak,  when  the  local 
attorney  arose  and  addressed  the  court  as  follows : 


76  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

"Your  Honor  lias  no  right  to  surrender  the  de- 
fendant to  anybody.  He  must  either  be  held  or 
discharged. ' ' 

Secret  Service  Agent  Roan  thereupon  moved 
over  to  the  private  detective,  who  sat  beside  his 
employer  and  his  counsel,  and  said  to  him : 

"I  will  take  you  to  New  York  on  the  twelve 
o'clock  train." 

The  lawyer  sprang  to  his  feet  and  thundered: 
"Have  you  a  warrant  for  his  arrest!" 

I  stepped  into  the  breach  and  said  no  warrant 
was  required;  that  the  city  of  Poughkeepsie  was 
in  the  Southern  District  of  New  York,  according 
to  the  Government's  legal  idea;  that  we  had  full 
and  absolute  jurisdiction  in  that  territory;  and 
that  it  was  our  right  to  arrest  an  offender  against 
the  laws  of  the  Government  without  a  warrant, 
particularly  if  the  offense  charged  was  committed 
in  our  district. 

"That  may  be  your  conception  of  the  law,  but 
it  is  not  mine,"  rejoined  the  attorney,  as  he  ranged 
himself  alongside  his  client.  "Now,  sir,  listen  to 
me.  I  advise  this  young  man  to  resist  arrest  if 
anybody  lays  hand  upon  him  without  a  warrant, 
and  I  warn  you  to  touch  him  at  your  peril." 

The  latter  remark  was  made  to  the  Secret  Ser- 
vice Agent,  who  merely  smiled  in  derision.  Find- 
ing that  he  had  made  no  marked  impression  upon 
Roan,  the  lawyer  said  with  a  vociferous  voice: 

' '  If  this  young  man  had  shot  you  while  forcibly 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  77 

arresting  him,  or  for  taking  his  private  papers 
from  his  person,  he  could  not  have  been  held  amen- 
able to  the  law.  Take  my  advice  and  leave  him 
alone  in  future." 

Roan  winked  at  me,  as  much  as  to  say,  "This 
chap  is  wasting  his  time  in  Poughkeepsie."  Not- 
withstanding the  flow  of  oratory  on  the  part  of  the 
lawyer,  the  Recorder  discharged  the  man,  and 
Roan  immediately  stepped  up  and  placed  him 
under  arrest.  He  left  for  New  York  with  him,  and 
as  he  graciously  escorted  the  now  thoroughly  cha- 
grined detective  to  a  choice  seat  in  the  smoking- 
car  he  said  to  him: 

''Now  be  a  good  boy  and  do  not  annoy  your 
papa,  who  wants  to  smoke  in  peace.  I'll  see  that 
you  are  not  starved,  as  you  deserve,  and,  faith, 
the  same  thing  applies  to  hanging.  That's  the 
Hudson  River.    Watch  the  big  boats  go  by. ' ' 

Myers  made  no  reply.  There  was  a  remorseful 
air  about  him  and  for  the  first  time  since  his  de- 
tention he  looked  frightened.  He  was  a  good  fin- 
isher, though,  and  he  looked  sang  froid  enough 
when,  later  in  the  day,  he  was  brought  before  the 
United  States  District  Attorney  in  the  Federal 
Building,  New  York.  He  never  told  any  state 
secrets,  and,  in  fact,  we  never  asked  him  who  had 
engaged  him.  Some  questions  are  unnecessary, 
and  some  men  are  born  untruthful.  They  were 
the  two  chief  reasons  why  we  failed  to  ask. 

The  Lasar  case  was  finally  called  for  trial,  and 


78  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

after  some  unimportant  testimony  was  given  by 
several  witnesses,  Miss  Ivy  Cruede  was  called  to 
the  witness  stand  to  give  her  testimony  in  the 
greatest  diamond  smuggling  case  ever  tried  in 
the  Federal  courts  in  New  York,  or  anywhere 
else,  for  that  matter. 


CHAPTER  V 

Prior  to  the  opening  of  the  direct  examination 
of  Miss  Cruede  there  was  a  lively  though  lengthy 
tilt  between  counsel  as  to  the  admissibility  of  a 
certain  deposition  made  by  one  Neresheimer,  of 
London.  The  opposing  faction  contended  tliat  as 
Special  Employee  of  the  Government  McCormack 
was  present  during  the  taking  of  the  deposition 
and  took  an  active  part  in  its  composition,  it 
should  be  sidetracked.  It  was  a  small  affair,  at 
best,  and,  no  matter  how  decided,  could  not  have 
changed  the  final  result. 

There  was  no  attempt  upon  the  part  of  Miss. 
Cruede  to  ''fix  and  fuss"  in  anticipation  of  her  oc- 
cupying the  center  of  the  arena.  She  walked  to 
the  witness  chair  as  simply  and  plainly  dressed  as 
if  the  idea  of  her  meeting  so  many  people  in  one 
place  had  never  entered  her  head. 

She  knew  what  was  coming,  or  at  least  had  some 
sort  of  a  warning  that  the  counsel  on  the  side  of 
Lasar  would  do  everything  in  their  power  to  take 
advantage  of  her  physical  helplessness  and  igno- 
rance of  court  methods.  Yet,  realizing  that  there 
was  to  be  an  awful  test  of  nerves  against  legal 

79 


80  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

strength,  and  that  in  all  probability  she  would  have 
to  stand  several  days  of  the  ordeal  on  the  stand, 
she  went  to  the  chair  with  the  humility  and  mod- 
esty befitting  an  English  girl. 

That  there  may  be  no  misunderstanding  as  to 
the  refinement  of  the  young  woman,  it  may  be  said, 
that  she  came  of  one  of  the  oldest  English-French 
families,  had  traveled  much  when  young  through 
India,  Spain,  France,  Italy,  America  and  Mexico, 
where  she  was  born,  and  had  never  known  the  want 
of  anything  until  her  father  died.  Thanks  to  the 
cruel  line  of  questioning  by  Judge  Daniels,  for  the 
defense,  the  witness  was  finally  placed  at  bay,  and 
refused  to  answer  some  of  the  questions,  even 
when  ordered  to  do  so  by  the  court,  to  whom  she 
appealed. 

The  purpose  of  Lawy^er  Daniels  was  plain  from 
the  very  outset.  He  wanted  by  wicked  innuendo 
and  subtle  inference  to  make  it  appear  that  the 
girl  had  lived  a  peculiar  life  before  she  met  Lasar, 
She  was  perfectly  willing  to  tell  everything  about 
herself,  but  declined  to  drag  the  dead  members 
of  her  family  into  the  case. 

Miss  Cruede  was  the  daughter  of  Major  Orphley 
Cruede,  an  English  army  officer,  who  unfortunate- 
ly committed  suicide.  Much  as  the  girl  desired  tc 
withhold  that  information  from  the  lawyers,  yet 
those  who  saw  the  girl  defy  Daniels  and  protest 
against  his  unnecessary  attempt  to  parade  the 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE    81 

memory  of  her  family  before  the  minds  of  some  of 
those  who  reveled  in  the  affair,  needed  no  endorse- 
ment of  the  conviction  that  she  had  the  spirit  of 
the  soldier  and  the  patience  of  a  gentlewoman. 

The  young  woman  had  many  aristocratic  and 
influential  friends,  even  after  the  death  of  her 
father,  and  had  a  small  income  besides ;  but,  that 
she  might  not  be  deprived  of  many  things,  she  did 
some  painting  for  a  living.  Correa,  a  noted  Chil- 
ean painter,  had  taken  the  orphan  into  his  family 
and  taught  her  much  in  the  line  of  the  arts  and 
helped  her  to  paint  a  famous  picture,  the  name  of 
which  I  withhold,  for  several  reasons.  A  copy  of 
* '  Ruth  and  Naomi ' '  from  her  brush  won  first  prize 
at  one  of  the  Academy  salons. 

The  English  girl  was  not  quite  eighteen  years 
old  when  she  met  Lasar  for  the  first  time,  and  the 
fact  that  she  began  such  intimate  relations  with  a 
man  on  so  short  an  acquaintance  was  rehashed, 
gloated  over,  scooped  up  and  enlarged  with  fiend- 
ish magnitude  by  the  defense. 

It  is  a  pity  that  the  young  girl  ever  fell  afoul 
of  such  a  decayed,  festered  whelp  as  Lasar,  but  I 
excuse  her  weakness  in  the  fact  that  she  was  still 
in  her  teens,  that  the  black-hearted  smuggler 
raised  his  hand  to  his  Maker  and  swore  that  he 
would  treat  her  as  his  daughter  if  she  were  to 
change  her  room  on  the  steamer  Labrador,  in 
which  they  both  crossed  the  ocean,  and  that  having 
accomplished  his  hellish  purpose,  he  promised  to 


82  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

make  her  his  wife  when  he  had  obtained  a  divorce. 
This  was  the  first  time  he  had  stated  he  was  a  mar- 
ried man.  She  believed  him  to  be  unattached,  but, 
learning  that  he  was  really  married,  it  was  then 
too  late  for  her  to  turn  back.  No  matter  what  the 
world  may  think  of  Ivy  Cruede,  I  say  that  Lasar 
has  a  lot  to  answer  for  as  concerns  her. 

The  moment  the  English  girl  took  the  stand  it 
was  apparent  that  the  jury  was  much  interested 
in  her.  In  replying  to  the  opening  questions  of 
Mr.  Wellington  she  said  that  her  full  name  was 
Ivril  Yvonne  Carlos  Cruede,  and  that  for  short 
many  of  her  friends  called  her  Miss  Ivy.  She  ex- 
plained that  she  had  come  to  America  nine  weeks 
before  on  the  request  of  an  agent  of  the  Govern- 
ment, and  that  for  her  services  she  was  to  receive 
fifteen  hundred  dollars. 

The  defense  had  been  laboring  under  the  bliss- 
ful belief  that  the  matter  of  compensation  would 
not  be  broached  until  its  inquisitive  counsel 
compelled  the  witness  to  explain  the  financial 
transaction  by  means  of  legal  thumbscrews,  and 
the  propounding  and  solution  of  the  question  by 
the  Government  and  its  witness  at  the  very  outset 
had  a  sort  of  dampening  effect  upon  the  hopes  of 
Lasar  and  his  following. 

Asked  as  to  how  she  made  the  acquaintance  of 
the  smuggler,  the  English  girl  said  that  it  was  on 
towards  the  end  of  October  of  1897.  She  had  taken 
a  ticket  for  transportation  across  the  Atlantic  in 


THE  LASAK  DIAMOND  CA8E  83 

the  steamer  Labrador,  bound  for  Montreal.  While 
crossing  in  the  tender  that  took  her  from  the  Liv- 
erpool quays  to  the  Labrador,  which  was  anchored 
in  mid-stream,  she  sat  on  the  top  of  her  trunk, 
which  was  on  top  of  another  trunk.  She  noticed 
a  man  standing  near  the  tender  funnel.  This  man 
was  Lasar.  She  had  never  seen  him  before.  Her 
attention  was  attracted  to  him  in  this  instance  by 
somebody  remarking  that  the  ''gentleman  over 
there  is  laughing  at  you. ' ' 

The  witness  explained  that  she  wondered  why 
he  had  laughed,  but  thinking  a  moment  later  that 
it  must  be  his  trunk  that  rested  under  hers,  and 
that  he  had  laughed  because  she  had  stepped  upon 
his  trunk  to  sit  upon  her  own,  she  got  down  and 
went  away.  She  did  not  see  Mr.  Lasar  again  until 
the  Labrador  had  hoisted  her  anchor  and  steamed 
from  the  Mersey. 

It  was  during  the  late  forenoon  that  she  saw, 
Lasar  again.  There  was  an  old  gentleman,  a  pas- 
senger, who  was  traveling  with  his  niece,  a  little 
girl.  The  child  had  a  doll  which  had  no  face,  and 
Lasar  was  playing  with  the  little  tot.  Her  atten- 
tion was  attracted  to  the  doll  by  Lasar,  who  re- 
marked : 

* '  Somebody  ought  to  paint  a  face  on  this  make- 
believe  doll." 

Lasar  handed  the  plaything  to  the  witness,  and 
she  noticed  that  the  doll  was  made  of  rags  and 
quite  dilapidated.    She  returned  the  doll  to  Lasar 


84  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

without  making  any  comment.  She  was  in  the 
company  of  a  young  woman  who  was  to  share  her 
stateroom  with  her.  This  young  woman  heard 
what  Lasar  said  to  her  for  the  first  time,  and  also 
her  subsequent  reply  that  she  would  j^aint  two 
eyes  and  a  nose  on  the  rag  baby.  This  was  their 
first  conversation,  and  a  trip  she  was  making  about 
deck  with  her  girl  acquaintance  had  been  inter- 
rupted by  it. 

Later  in  the  afternoon  Miss  Cruede  painted  a 
face  upon  the  doll,  and  when  Lasar  met  her  again 
about  deck  he  thanked  her  for  what  she  had  done, 

This  was  the  beginning  of  their  unholy  alliance, 
he  a  married  man  and  she  a  slip  of  a  girl  wlio  knew 
not  the  ways  of  the  world,  or  of  the  snares  and  pit- 
falls that  men  like  Lasar  dig  for  the  unsophisti- 
cated maidens  like  herself.  The  girl  told  the  whole 
story  with  such  frankness  as  to  make  a  lasting 
impression  upon  the  minds  of  those  who  heard  her 
sad  tale.  It  was  an  open  picture  of  deception  and 
intrigue  on  the  part  of  the  smuggler,  and  he  was 
a  gone  cock  in  the  pit  from  the  moment  that  the 
girl  gave  her  narrative  to  the  twelve  honest  and 
good  men. 

It  appears  that  shortly  after  luncheon  on  the 
first  day  of  the  Labrador  at  sea,  and  about  one 
hour  after  she  had  returned  the  regenerated  doll 
to  the  little  child,  Lasar  walked  uj)  to  whei'e  Miss 
Cruede  was  standing  with  a  girl  friend  and  asked 
her  how  she  liked  sea  traveling.    She  replied  that 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  85 

as  a  usual  thing  she  was  quite  fond  of  the  ocean, 
but  that  she  felt  as  if  she  was  not  to  like  that  trip. 
Lasar  then  asked  her  where  she  was  bound,  and 
she  replied  that  she  was  eAi  route  to  MoutreaL 

"Oh,  you  do  not  want  to  go  direct  to  Montreal 
in  the  ship,"  Lasar  said.  "It  is  much  more  pleas- 
ant to  disembark  at  Quebec  and  go  to  Montreal 
by  rail.    The  scenery  is  better." 

The  witness  testified  that  she  replied  that  she 
had  purchased  a  ticket  by  boat  direct  to  Montreal 
and  that  she  would  have  to  go  that  way. 

To  this  Lasar  replied:  "Oh,  you  get  off  at  Que- 
bec.   It  will  be  more  interesting. ' ' 

The  young  woman,  who  was  standing  alongside 
of  Miss  Cruede  while  this  conversation  was  going 
on,  then  remarked  that  it  would  be  too  bad  to 
waste  the  steamer  end  of  the  ticket  by  traveling 
by  rail,  to  which  Lasar  made  answer  that  the  cost 
was  very  little.  This  exchange  of  opinions  occurred 
about  two  in  the  afternoon,  and  Miss  Cruede  and 
her  companion  then  walked  forward  to  see  another 
portion  of  the  ship. 

It  was  two  hours  later  when  she  met  Lasar 
again.  This  time  she  was  alone,  and  he  said  to 
her: 

"It  looks  as  if  we  were  to  have  a  pleasant  trip." 

"Perhaps,"  Miss  Cruede  replied,  adding:  "I 
am  afraid  that  I  am  going  to  be  ill." 

Lasar  appeared  to  be  solicitous,  and  expressed 
the  hope  that  the  voyage  might  be  finished  without 


86    DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

any  inconvenience  to  her.  Miss  Cruede  tlien  said : 
"I  am  quite  sure  I  am  going  to  become  ill.  I  do 
not  like  the  food  in  the  second  cabin.  I  have  never 
been  in  the  second  cabin  before  and  do  not  like  it." 
In  her  explanation  to  the  court  of  her  taking  an 
almost  utter  stranger  like  Lasar  into  her  confi- 
dence sufficiently  to  criticise  the  food  of  the  ship 
Miss  Cruede  said  that  it  was  a  most  ordinary  thing 
aboard  all  ships  to  discuss  the  ship's  table  even 
with  strangers.  Fellow-passengers  were  never 
considered  to  be  strangers.  There  was  a  strong 
bond  between  fellow-passengers  which  was  usually 
severed  at  the  completion  of  the  trip,  but  that  it 
was  quite  thorough  while  the  passage  lasted. 

Continuing,  Miss  Cruede  said  to  the  court  that 
the  food  in  the  second  cabin  was  good  enough  for 
those  who  were  accustomed  to  traveling  in  that 
class,  but  that  she  was  not  used  to  it.    She  had  not 
intended  to  go  intermediate,  and  need  not  have 
done    so   had   not   she    spent    (entertaining   girl 
friends  in  England)  some  funds  that  had  been  sent 
to  her.    She  was  unable  to  get  away  from  these 
friends,  she  explained  to  the  jury,  and  when  she 
finally  arrived  in  Liverpool  and  counted  her  money 
she  found  that  she  had  only  a  little  above  the  cost 
of  a  second-class  ticket. 
Lasar,  according  to  the  witness,  then  said: 
"How  would  you  like  to  go  first  class?" 
''That  is  out  of  the  question.    I  have  not  the 
means,"  is  what  Miss  Cruede  swore  to  as  a  reply. 


THE  LASAR  DIAjVfOND  CASE  87 

Nothing  else  was  said  on  that  subject  at  that 
time,  the  resourceful  Lasar  asking  the  eighteen- 
year-old  girl  where  her  friends  resided  in  Canada, 
who  her  people  were,  and  as  to  her  previous  voy- 
ages. In  the  course  of  events,  being  young,  un- 
diplomatic and  unsuspecting,  the  English  girl  told 
Lasar  in  a  modest  way  that  she  painted,  and  he 
laughingly  said: 

"Why,  I  must  be  a  mind-reader  without  know- 
ing it.  Just  imagine  me  asking  you  to  paint  a 
doll's  face,  and  you  a  great  painter  and  my  not 
knowing  it. ' ' 

He  lavished  flattery  upon  her  in  this  way  from 
the  very  first,  and  Lasar,  let  it  be  known,  was  a 
grand  master  at  the  art.  The  eighteen-year-old 
English  girl  was  ignorant  of 

"This  barren  verbiage  current  among  men. 
Like  coin,  the  tinsel  clink  of  compliment." 

So,  believing  that  he  was  interested,  .she  told  him 
about  her  people  and  some  other  confidences  of 
that  nature.  Then  she  went  away  to  see  her  girl 
companion  and  met  Lasar  again  just  about  the 
time  that  the  gong  was  sounded  for  dinner.  He 
said  to  her: 

"May  I  see  you  after  dinner?  I  want  to  say 
something." 

Being  in  different  classes,  he  went  to  one  part 
of  the  ship  to  dine,  while  she  went  to  another. 


88  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

Shortly  before  dusk  they  met  again,  and  Lasar 
said  to  her : 

"Would  you  like  to  go  into  the  first  class?" 

' '  Oh,  I  should  like  to  have  gone  first  cabin, ' '  the 
witness  said.  "I  might  have  done  so  had  I  been 
more  careful  of  my  money," 

"Well,  you  are  going  into  the  first  cabin,"  said 
Lasar.  "I  have  fixed  it.  I  have  given  the  chief 
steward  five  pounds  to  have  you  transferred.  Your 
luggage  has  gone  from  your  room  into  the  first 
cabin. ' ' 

Miss  Cruede  said  she  did  not  believe  Lasar  when 
he  made  this  statement  because  when  she  was  in 
her  own  room  a  short  time  before  her  baggage 
was  there.  But  he  insisted  that  the  transfer  had 
been  made,  and  she  finally  said : 

"Well,  under  no  circumstances  could  I  permit  a 
transfer  of  this  kind.  Why  should  you  do  any 
such  thing  as  that!  I  am  a  stranger  to  you.  I 
could  not  think  of  doing  such  a  thing. ' ' 

"Well,"  answered  Lasar,  according  to  the  wit- 
ness, "your  baggage  has  gone  from  your  cabin 
into  mine.  Oh,  come,  come,  it  is  all  right.  It  does 
not  matter.  I  have  given  the  steward  the  money 
and  you  must  come  to  save  further  trouble." 

"You  had  no  business  to  meddle  with  my  bag- 
gage," the  witness  then  said  to  Lasar.  "How 
could  I  do  such  a  thing  as  to  go  into  your  room? 
The  people  on  the  ship  are  sure  to  talk  as  it  is,  and 
my  friends  at  home  may  hear  of  it." 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  89 

' 'Nonsense,"  was  the  retort  of  Lasar.  "I  will 
tell  everybody  that  you  are  my  daughter.  I  am 
not  married,  but  God  knows  I  need  a  daughter.  I 
have  no  children  or  anybody  who  cares  a  snap  for 
me.  I  am  lonely.  jMay  God  cut  off  my  life  from 
me  forever  if  I  do  not  treat  you  as  my  daughter. 
I  have  a  nice,  large  room.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it 
will  look  worse  for  you  if  you  do  not  go  now  that 
your  baggage  has  been  transferred." 

This  and  a  good  deal  more  did  the  oily-tongued 
tempter  say  to  the  light-headed  butterfly  whose 
wings  his  venomous  fire  was  trying  to  singe.  The 
witness,  if  she  is  to  be  believed,  and  it  seems  that 
the  jury  did  believe  her,  then  went  down  into  her 
own  cabin  to  ascertain  for  a  certainty  whether  or 
not  her  luggage  was  there.  Sure  enough,  every- 
thing that  she  owned  was  gone.  In  this  connec- 
tion she  describes  the  immediate  happenings  as 
follows : 

"When  I  found  my  personal  effects  gone  I  was 
full  of  resolutions  not  to  go.  But  the  people  in 
the  second  cabin  looked  so  hard  at  me  that  the 
full  import  of  his  words,  that  even  if  I  did  not 
go  it  would  be  unbearable  for  me  in  the  second 
cabin  during  the  remainder  of  the  trip,  came  to 
me.  I  hurried  to  the  upper  deck  and  hastened  to 
where  Mr.  Lasar  was  standing  against  one  of  the 
boat  davits.  I  told  him  that  he  had  taken  my  bag- 
gage and  that  everybody  would  talk.  He  repeated 
the  statement  that  it  would  appear  a  great  deal 


90  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

worse  if  I  returned  the  baggage,  and  like  a  fool 
I  believed  him. ' ' 

It  was  at  this  critical  moment,  it  would  seem, 
that  she  promised  to  go  to  his  cabin,  and  one  of 
these  da^'s  I  honestly  believe  she  will  be  forgiven 
for  her  weakness,  if  the  recording  angel  has  not 
already  done  so.  Even  while  still  wavering  be- 
tween right  and  wrong,  the  libertine  said  to  her : 

"My  little  girl,  you  can  trust  me  implicitly.  I 
will  be  as  a  father  to  you.    I  swear  it." 

The  innocent  English  butterfly  finally  went  into 
the  web  of  the  licentious  spider,  and  when  she 
finally  emerged  she  was  polluted  and  disgraced. 
Her  own  words  on  the  stand  as  to  her  downfall 
were  these: 

"However,  I  went  down  to  his  stateroom.  In 
the  evening  I  went  to  bed.  Mr.  Lasar  was  not  in 
the  room  at  that  time.  He  came  in  later.  I  stayed 
in  his  stateroom  dui-ing  the  rest  of  the  voyage. 
I  did  not  go  out  very  much.  I  went  out  occasion- 
ally during  the  evening.  I  was  ashamed  to  go  out 
in  the  daytime.  I  had  thought  of  appealing  to  the 
purser  or  the  steward  or  the  stewardess,  but  Mr. 
Lasar  told  me  what  would  be  the  end  of  such  an 
action  on  my  part." 

So  on  and  so  forth,  but,  that  both  sides  may  be 
placed  on  an  even  basis  in  this  matter,  I  will  give 
a  few  questions  and  answers  that  were  exchanged 
in  relation  to  this  unwholesome  subject. 

"And  these  were  the  circumstances  under  which 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  91 

YOU  met  Mr.  Lasar  for  the  first  timef"  was  tlie 
question  of  United  States  Attorney  Wellington. 

"Yes,  sir,"  answered  Miss  Cruede. 

"How  old  were  you  at  that  time  I" 

"A  little  over  eighteen.  We  landed  in  Quebec 
about  the  5th  or  6th  of  November. ' ' 

' '  Before  you  met  Mr.  Lasar  you  had  been  doing 
nothing  but  painting  for  a  living?"  inquired  Mr. 
Daniels. 

"No,"  was  the  response  of  Miss  Cruede.  "I 
had  no  need  to  do  anything  for  a  living.  I  bad 
money.    My  people  kept  me. ' ' 

' '  Your  relations  with  Mr.  Lasar  then  became  in^ 
timate,  did  they  not?"  was  Mr.  Daniels'  next 
query. 

"I  have  no  answer  to  such  a  vulgar  taunt,"  Miss 
Cruede  said,  with  flashing  eyes.  Mr.  Wellington 
jumped  to  his  feet  and  exclaimed : 

"I  object.  I  think  that  is  going  beyond  the  rule. 
I  think  they  have  shown  the  situation  of  the  par- 
ties, and  to  ask  a  direct  question  that  involves 
chastity  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  question  of 
veracity. ' ' 

At  this  point  Judge  Brown  interposed  with  this 
opinion:  "As  a  part  of  her  testimony  in  chief  in 
that  regard,  I  consider  her  testimony  to  be  open 
and  frank,  leaving  nothing  to  be  desired  so  far  as 
is  necessary  for  all  to  understand  what  her  rela- 
tions were.    I  do  not  think  tliere  is  any  occasion  to 


92  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

go  beyond  to  repeat  what  she  has  said  in  that  re- 
spect." 

An  exception  was  taken  to  this  opinion  by  the 
counsel  for  Lasar,  who  then  asked  the  witness : 
i     "Did  you  give  Lasar  your  ticket  to  change!" 

''Yes,  sir,"  was  what  the  witness  said. 

"At  the  time  that  he  gave  the  five  pounds  to  the 
steward,  did  you!" 

"No,  sir;  it  was  afterwards." 

"Did  you  give  him  your  Montreal  ticket  to 
change  before  you  occupied  the  cabin  with  him?" 

"I  have  answered  no,  sir." 

' '  When  did  you  give  him  the  ticket  to  change  I ' ' 

"Afterwards — the  same  evening." 

"The  first  evening?" 

"Yes,  sir.    I  do  not  know  the  exact  time." 

"Was  it  before  you  retired  to  bed!" 

"Mr.  Lasar  was  out  when  I  retired." 

"Before  you  retired  you  had  given  him  your 
ticket  to  change?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

Following  this  delectable  resume  of  what  hap- 
pened to  the  unfortunate  girl  on  the  first  night  at 
sea  in  the  Labrador,  Mr.  Wellington  went  in  for 
a  spell  of  intelligence  regarding  what  the  pair  did 
and  said  after  their  arrival  in  Quebec.  Miss 
Cruede  was  evidently  an  observant  girl,  and,  what 
is  still  better,  had  a  keen  memory,  even  months 
afterward,  of  the  exact  happenings  of  this  trip 
ashore  and  afloat. 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  93 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  at  the  time  of 
these  occurrences  she  had  no  idea  that  she  would 
ever  become  a  witness  against  Lasar.  She  un- 
doubtedly grew  very  fond  of  him,  and  had  ho 
treated  her  half  decently,  and  not  inspired  his 
nasty  hired  man.  Gold,  to  make  a  chopioing-block 
of  her  poor  soul,  it  is  certain  that  the  Government 
would  have  been  without  the  services  of  this  im- 
portant witness  when  Lasar  was  finally  brought 
to  bay.  Mr.  Wellington's  first  question  as  to  her 
knowledge  of  the  valuables  that  Lasar  was  bring- 
ing to  North  America  on  this  celebrated  trip  was 
as  follows: 

"During  the  voyage  was  anything  said  by  Lasar 
about  any  valuables  that  he  was  bringing  to  this 
country  ? ' ' 

"He  told  me  that  he  was  a  diamond  merchant, 
and  showed  me  papers  to  make  me  believe  that 
this  was  his  business,"  was  the  reply  of  Miss 
Cruede. 

"Did  you  take  a  sleeping-car  from  Quebec  to 
Montreal?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Did  you  occupy  the  same  berth  with  Lasar?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Was  anything  said  or  was  anything  shown  of 
valuables  during  the  time  you  occuijied  that  berth 
on  the  way  to  Montreal?" 

"Nothing  was  shown,  no.  I  was  laughing  and 
talking,  and  he  told  me  that  I  must  be  quiet.    I 


94  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

asked  liim  wliy.  He  said:  'I  have  valuables,  and 
if  you  don't  be  quiet  we  might  be  murdered  in  our 
bed.'    He  did  not  state  what  the  valuables  were." 

"Did  you  discover  anything  that  he  was  taking 
care  of?" 

"Yes,  sir.  I  accidentally  put  my  hand  under 
the  pillow  and  found  a  belt — a  simple  canvas  belt 
I  think  it  was.  I  did  not  take  it  from  under  the 
pillow,  I  was  surprised  to  find  something  under 
there  and  just  felt  of  it.  I  did  not  say  anything  to 
Mr.  Lasar  about  finding  the  belt." 

All  of  the  questioning  along  this  line  was  to  es- 
tablish the  fact  that  Lasar  had  the  diamonds  and 
other  precious  stones  which  he  subsequently  smug- 
gled in  his  possession  while  he  was  in  the  company 
of  the  English  witness. 

* '  I  understood  you  to  say  that  during  the  voyage 
across  the  Atlantic  Mr.  Lasar  had  some  packages 
in  his  cabin?"  was  the  way  Mr.  Danie's  put  it  dur- 
ing the  cross-examination. 

"I  said  that  he  showed  me  some  papers,"  was 
Miss  Cruede's  answer,  adding,  in  reply  to  the  ques- 
tion of  what  papers,  that  he  had  shown  her  such 
things  as  old  invoices  and  bills  of  lading  of  old 
diamonds  that  had  been  sent  possibly  two  or  three 
years  before.  He  did  this,  the  witness  said,  to 
show  her  that  he  was  what  he  represented  himself 
to  be,  a  diamond  merchant. 

The  two  arrived  in  Montreal  early  in  the  morn- 
ing, Miss  Cruede  said.    She  was  not  certain  of  the 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  95 

date,  but  she  knew  it  was  on  a  Sunday  morning. 
They  went  straight  to  the  Hotel  Windsor  and  she 
saw  Mr.  Lasar  register.  She  was  directly  along- 
side him  at  the  time,  and  witnessed  him  write  the 
name  M.  J.  Lasar  in  the  register,  and  Miss,  with 
two  ditto  marks  meaning  Miss  Lasar,  underneath. 
She  was  to  pass  for  the  merchant's  daughter.  She 
also  saw  him  place  the  word  Jersey  after  each 
name  to  indicate  that  they  came  from  the  bonnie 
home  of  trusts  and  mosquitoes.  They  were  as- 
signed to  two  adjoining  rooms  which  had  a  con- 
necting door  between. 

After  breakfast  the  morning  of  their  arrival  at 
the  Hotel  Windsor  the  witness  said  that  she  went 
upstairs  to  her  room,  while  Lasar  remained  in 
the  corridor,  with  the  remark  that  he  wanted  to 
find  the  clerk  of  the  hotel  to  put  his  valuables  in 
the  safe.  He  was  absent  about  ten  minutes,  and 
then  came  upstairs  to  where  she  was  and  an- 
nounced that  he  could  not  find  the  right  clerk  and 
that  he  would  have  to  stay  around  until  he  did. 
Then  the  witness  continued  : 

"I  went  into  my  room  to  dress  to  go  driving,  as 
he  suggested,  and  when  finished  returned  to  his 
room  to  find  him  seated  at  a  table  with  two  pack- 
ages before  him.  I  do  not  know  where  he  took  the 
parcels  from.  As  I  entered  he  put  one  package 
in  each  side  of  his  coat  pockets  in  the  back  and, 
standing  up,  asked  me  if  they  looked  too  large  or 
bulky.     I  examined  his  back  and  told  him  they 


96  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

stuck  out  quite  a  bit.  He  said  that  they  would 
have  to  stay  there."  The  witness  was  quite  sure 
that  this  occurred  on  Sunday,  but  she  was  unable 
to  recall,  although  she  had  tried  very,  very  hard, 
what  day  it  was  that  Sister-in-Law  Lasar  arrived 
on  the  scene  to  bring  the  packages  to  the  metrop- 
olis. 

Both  the  court  and  Mr.  "Wellington  impressed 
the  witness  with  the  importance  of  her  recollecting 
what  day  of  the  week  it  was  that  she  saw  Mrs. 
Lasar,  but  she  finally  replied : 

' '  I  cannot  recollect.  I  have  tried  and  tried,  but 
cannot  remember." 

The  witness  was  positive,  however,  that  she  saw 
the  same  packages  on  the  following  Monday.  They 
were  on  the  person  of  Lasar,  and  he  still  seemed 
to  be  looking  for  the  "clerk"  of  the  hotel,  so  he 
had  to  carrj^  them  around  with  him  to  find  the  ab- 
sent knight  of  the  immaculate  white  shirt-front, 
The  packages  were  not  always  in  the  man's  pock- 
ets, the  witness  affirmed.  Sometimes  he  had  them 
in  his  hands,  sometimes  he  placed  them  on  the 
table  in  his  room,  sometimes  in  his  trunk,  but  gen- 
erally he  carried  them  in  his  pockets. 

The  two  packages  were  covered  with  brown 
paper  and  each  was  from  four  to  six  inches  in 
length.  They  were  not  square  in  shape,  but  the 
witness  failed  to  remember  how  they  were  tied. 
The  smuggler  and  his  latest  victim  remained  at 
the  Hotel  Windsor  for  four  days,  or  until  the  fol- 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  97 

lowing  Thursday.  As  to  what  happened  after  the 
Sunday  evening  in  which  Lasar  was  unable  to  lo- 
cate the  supposedly  mythical  clerk  who  was  to  care 
for  his  packages,  I  will  let  the  witness'  testimony 
stand.    This  is  what  she  said: 

"It  was  either  Monday  or  Tuesday.  I  am  in- 
clined to  believe  it  was  the  former.  The  weather 
had  turned  out  extremely  cold  for  November  since 
our  arrival,  and  I  had  no  coat — that  is,  a  heavy 
coat.  Mr.  Lasar  told  me  that  I  was  to  go  down  to 
a  shop  and  there  get  a  coat,  or,  rather,  I  was  to 
go  and  see  what  I  would  like.  He  said  that  I  was 
to  go  away  and  stay  for  a  considerable  time.  He 
impressed  this  fact  upon  me  several  times  that 
I  was  not  to  return  in  a  hurry,  but  to  go  about  all 
the  stores  and  see  what  I  would  like  to  get. 

"I  went  away,  and,  sooner  than  I  expected, 
found  the  coat  that  I  wanted  and  hurried  back  to 
the  hotel  to  tell  him  the  news.  Much  to  my  sur- 
prise I  found  not  only  Mr.  Lasar 's  door  locked,  but 
also  the  door  leading  to  my  room.  I  knocked  at 
both,  but  received  no  answer.  I  walked  away  up 
the  corridor,  wondering  what  the  matter  could  be. 
As  I  turned  back  I  saw  a  woman  coming  out  from 
the  door  leading  to  Mr.  Lasar 's  room.  Although 
the  woman  did  not  know  me,  she  hurried  back  into 
Mr.  Lasar 's  room  the  moment  she  realized  she  was 
obsei-ved. 

"I  was  determined  to  find  out  who  the  woman 
was  and  went  back  up  the  corridor  again.    At  the 


98  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

end  of  this  corridor  there  was  a  shorter  corridor, 
with  a  window  at  its  terminal.  I  waited  there  for 
some  time,  and  as  I  turned  around  to  come  back 
I  saw  the  woman  for  the  second  time.  As  when  I 
saw  her  first,  she  was  emerging  from  Mr.  Lasar's 
room." 

"Would  you  recognize  the  woman  if  you  saw 
her  again?"  was  the  question  of  Mr.  Wellington. 

"Yes,  sir,"  responded  Miss  Cruede.  "That  is 
the  woman  over  there."  As  she  said  this  she 
pointed  towards  Sarah  Lasar,  the  sister-in-law  of 
the  claimant  for  the  diamonds. 

"Will  the  counsel  for  Mrs.  Lasar  do  us  the  cour- 
tesy to  have  this  lady  stand  up  for  a  moment,  that 
there  will  be  no  mistake?"  inquired  Mr.  Wel- 
lington. 

Mrs.  Lasar  stood  up  and  lifted  her  veil,  and  the 
representative  of  the  Government  then  asked : 

"Is  or  is  not  that  the  person  you  saw  come  out 
of  Lasar's  room?" 

"That  is  the  lady,  sir,"  Miss  Cruede  said. 

"This  is  Mrs.  Morris  Lasar?"  Judge  Brown 
interjected. 

"Yes,"  said  Mr.  Wellington;  "called  Sarah 
Lasar  in  the  information." 

"This  lady  is  Sarah  Lasar,  the  sister-in-law  of 
the  claimant,"  acknowledged  Mr.  Daniels,  Mr. 
Lasar's  lawyer. 

"Does  she  say  that  she  saw  Mrs.  Lasar  come 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE  99 

out  of  one  of  the  two  rooms?"  inquired  Judge 
Brown. 

"Yes,  sir,"  responded  the  witness. 

At  this  point  Mr.  Daniels  interposed  with  his 
opinion  of  what  the  witness  had  said.  This  is  how 
he  put  it : 

"She  said  that  she  saw  a  lady  come  out  into  the 
hall.  She  did  not  see  the  lady  at  that  time  to  rec- 
ognize her.    She  afterwards  recognized  her. ' ' 

"The  lady  came  out  of  the  room  and  I  saw  her 
and  she  went  back  into  the  room,"  said  the  wit- 
ness, continuing:  "I  saw  her  face  the  first  time. 
When  she  saw  me  she  went  in  again.  I  waited 
purposely  to  see  her  again  and  saw  her  face  when 
she  came  out  the  second  time.  I  am  sure  about 
my  identification.  When  she  went  away  I  returned 
to  the  room.  I  had  no  trouble  getting  in  this  time, 
because  the  door  was  not  fastened." 

"Did  any  conversation  take  place  between  you 
and  Lasar  after  you  went  in?"  was  the  next  ques- 
tion of  Mr.  Wellington. 

"Yes.  He  seemed  very  nervous  after  I  went  in, 
and  he  asked  me  if  I  knocked  at  the  door.  I  said 
I  had." 

"I  desire  to  strike  out  the  expression  that  he 
seemed  very  nervous,"  exclaimed  Mr.  Daniels  at 
this  juncture. 

"But  he  was  very  nervous,"  insisted  the  wit- 
ness before  anybod\^  could  stop  her. 

"I  will  allow  the  answer,"  was  the  decision  of 


TOO    DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

Judge  Brown.  "I  think  it  was  a  sufficiently  fa- 
miliar expression." 

''Miss  Cruede,"  remarked  Mr.  Wellington, 
''when  the  counsel  on  the  other  side  objects,  stop 
and  do  not  say  a  word  until  the  gentlemen  have 
had  an  opportunity  to  state  their  objections.  It  is 
only  fair  to  them." 

The  witness  promised  to  be  good  in  future,  and 
then  Mr.  Wellington  demanded  to  know  of  the  wit- 
ness what  occurred  after  she  passed  into  the  room. 
Miss  Cruede  made  reply : 

"I  asked  him  who  the  lady  was,  and  iie  said  that 
it  was  his  sister.  He  did  not  say  anything  further. 
When  I  saw  that  he  was  inclined  to  be  secretive 
about  the  visit  of  the  woman  I  did  not  continue  the 
subject,  but  told  him  that  I  had  succeeded  in  find- 
ing the  coat  that  would  suit  me.  He  then  said 
that  I  must  go  back  again  to  the  store,  and  that 
under  no  circumstances  must  I  return  quickly.  I 
was  to  send  the  coat,  cash  on  delivery.  He  also 
told  me  to  purchase  a  cape  and  a  mufT,  but  not  to 
hurry  back.  I  did  as  he  told  me,  choosing  a  fur 
cape,  coat  and  muff." 

"AVhat  occurred  next  with  reference  to  these 
two  packages  that  you  have  referred  to?"  asked 
Mr.  Wellington. 

''After  dinner  on  the  evening  of  the  day  on 
which  I  made  the  purchases  Mr.  Lasar  told  me 
that  I  was  to  go  upstairs  to  my  room,  which  I  did. 
When  he  came  up  he  said  that  I  must  remain  in 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        101 

for  the  rest  of  the  night ;  that  when  I  retired  I  was 
to  go  into  his  bed  and  stay  there.  He  also  cau- 
tioned me  about  locking  my  room  door  and  also 
the  communicating  door  between." 

**I  went  to  bed  as  he  told  me  to  do,  and  while 
ther^  he  gave  me  two  packages  which  I  immedi- 
ately recognized  as  the  ones  that  I  had  seen  in  his 
hand  on  the  day  we  arrived.  He  told  me  to  hide 
them  under  the  bed  covering,  that  he  was  going 
to  be  out  quite  late,  and  if  anybody  knocked  during 
his  absence  not  to  answer.  He  must  have  changed 
his  mind  about  my  locking  myself  in,  because  he 
locked  all  the  doors  himself  and  took  the  keys  with 
him. 

''It  was  two  in  the  morning  when  he  returned, 
and  meantime  I  was  very  much  frightened.  When 
Mr.  Lasar  came  back  he  told  me  that  he  had  met 
some  friends  who  had  crossed  in  the  Labrador  and 
that  they  had  scolded  him  about  me.  He  said  that 
he  had  assured  them  that  he  would  do  the  right 
thing  with  me.  He  repeated  what  he  had  said, 
word  for  word,  that  as  soon  as  he  had  obtained 
his  divorce  he  would  marry  me.  'I  promised  them 
I  would  do  so  and  I  shall,'  is  the  way  he  put  it. 
He  seemed  to  be  quite  happy.  There  was  no  more 
conversation  that  evening,  except  that  he  asked  me 
if  the  packages  were  all  right. ' ' 

"Had  Mr.  Lasar  previous  to  this  made  any  such 
promises  to  you?"  inquired  Mr.  Wellington. 

"Yes,"  answered  Miss  Cruede.     "He  told  me 


102   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

several  times  on  the  ship  that  after  getting  his 
divorce  he  would  marry  me.  First  of  all  he  said 
he  was  not  married.  Then  he  told  me  that  he  was 
divorced.  Finally  he  said  that  he  was  suing  for 
a  divorce." 

"Now,  returning  to  the  question  of  the  pack- 
ages," said  Mr.  Wellington,  "where  did  you  place 
them?" 

"In  bed,"  answered  the  witness. 

* '  Whereabouts  in  bed ! ' ' 

"With  me." 

"Was  it  under  the  pillow  that  you  placed 
them?" 

"No." 

"Or  under  the  mattress!" 

' '  Oh,  I  just  kept  them  in  bed.  I  did  not  put  them 
under  the  pillow." 

' '  Did  you  keep  them  in  your  hands  ? " 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Right  next  to  your  person?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Did  Mr.  Lasar  remove  the  packages  when  he 
came  in?" 

"No;  he  just  left  them  there  until  the  morning, 
when,  before  breakfast,  he  put  them  around  his 
waist." 

"What  happened  the  next  morning?" 

"After  breakfast  Mr.  Lasar  asked  me  if  I  would 
like  to  see  what  I  had  kept  for  him.  I  said  that  I 
did  not  mind,  so  he  said:    'All  right.    You  shall 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CA8E        103 

see,  if  you  are  good.'  So  he  went  and  closed  all 
the  doors,  as  he  had  done  the  evening  before,  and 
cautioned  me  about  being  very,  very  quiet,  and 
that  he  would  show  me.  He  took  a  small  table  to 
the  window,  took  off  his  coat,  his  vest,  and  he  un- 
buttoned two  or  three  other  buttons  and  took  off 
a  belt  from  one  of  the  packages.  There  were  two 
belts,  I  noticed.  He  placed  the  belt  he  had  taken 
off  on  the  table.  In  this  belt  there  were  many 
small  packages.  He  opened  these  packages  and 
laid  them  on  the  table  one  after  the  other." 

The  witness  was  shown  some  exhibits  that  had 
been  marked  for  identification  and  was  asked  if 
the  smaller  packages  had  that  appearance.  She 
replied  that  they  were  similar. 

"How  many  belts  did  you  see,  all  told?"  asked 
Judge  Brown. 

"Only  two,"  said  the  witness. 

"Not  the  belts!"  exclaimed  Mr.  Daniels. 

"There  was  a  belt  in  each  package,"  answered 
the  witness.  "In  the  morning  when  he  took  the 
packages  from  me  he  opened  one  package  and  put 
one  belt  on,  and  opened  the  other  package  and  put 
the  other  belt  on." 

"Opened  what?"  asked  Judge  Brown^ — "his 
vest!" 

' '  Yes,  sir, ' '  Miss  Cruede  said,  and  she  proceeded 
to  tell  of  the  rest  of  the  occurrences  of  that  morn- 
ing. "After  spreading  the  smaller  packages  out 
on  the  table,"  continued  the  witness,  "Mr.  Lasar 


104   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

said:  'Now  I  want  to  show  you  what  I  have.  I 
have  lots  of  diamonds — quite  a  fortune.'  He 
said  that  they  were  worth  about  fifty  thou- 
sand pounds.  He  opened  each  package  sepa- 
rately and  showed  me  the  diamonds.  He  laid 
them  all  out  in  rows  on  the  table  before 
the  window.  Certain  packages  had  small  dia- 
monds— very  small;  some  had  diamonds  that 
were  very  much  larger.  Some  looked  brown,  some 
just  yellow,  others  had  beautiful  blue  tints,  and 
some  were  pure  white.  They  all  looked  so  differ- 
ent. Then  he  took  a  paper  from  his  pocket.  The 
paper  was  folded,  and  he  looked  at  it,  and  as  he 
examined  each  diamond  he  checked  off  something 
on  the  paper.  I  saw  the  paper.  There  were  lots 
of  little  figures  on  it." 

Miss  Cruede  then  identified  a  paper  shown  her, 
resembling  the  one  which  Lasar  had  taken  from 
his  pocket. 

"What  did  Mr.  Lasar  say  when  he  had  finished 
his  checking  and  examination?"  inquired  Mr. 
"Wellington. 

* '  He  said  to  me :  '  I  will  not  show  you  the  other 
belt.  They  are  the  same,  exactly  the  same.'  He 
wrapped  them  all  up  again  and  put  them  back  into 
each  little  package  and  put  them  around  his  waist. 
I  did  not  see  the  diamonds  again  while  i  was  at  the 
hotel  in  Montreal." 

"Were  these  belts  of  leather  or  canvas,  and 
about  what  size  ? " 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        105 

*'Tbey  were  not  of  leather.  They  were  about 
four  inches  broad.  Each  belt  had  a  number  of 
pockets,  and  in  each  pocket  there  were  a  number 
of  the  small  papers  containing  the  diamonds." 

"You  are  asked  to  describe  the  belts.  Please 
do  not  answer  any  more  than  you  are  asked," 
thundered  Mr.  Daniels. 

"Did  you  see  these  belts  on  his  person  after 
they  were  put  on  I"  inquired  Mr.  Wellington. 

The  witness  said  that  she  had,  and  that  one  belt 
was  above  the  other,  the  one  uppermost  being 
quite  high  on  the  body.  She  did  not  see  the  belts 
again  after  Lasar  put  the  packages  into  them  and 
placed  the  belts  about  his  person. 

"Did  you  make  any  inquiry  about  the  belts  after 
that?"  was  the  next  interrogation  of  the  Govern- 
ment lawyer. 

"Yes,  sir,"  was  the  answer. 

"State  what  occurred." 

' '  On  Wednesday  evening  Mr.  Lasar  told  me  that 
we  were  to  leave  early  the  next  morning  for  New 
York,  and  he  asked  me  if  I  would  pack  his  trunk 
and  give  him  some  clean  linen  to  make  an  ex- 
change. He  made  an  exchange.  He  had  no  belts 
on  when  he  made  the  change  of  underwear. ' ' 

"He  didn't  ask  you  that,"  shouted  Mr.  Daniels, 
jumping  to  his  feet. 

"I  asked  her  to  describe  what  occurred." 

' '  He  had  no  belts  on  at  that  time, ' '  was  the  re- 
joinder of  the  witness. 


0 


^ 


lOG   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

"Did  you  see  him  undress  when  he  was  making 
the  change  of  linen?" 

"Yes,  sir.    I  saw  that  he  had  no  belts  on." 

This  constant  allusion  to  the  belts,  conveying 
as  it  did  the  imjDression  that  the  sister-in-law  of 
Lasar  had  taken  the  belts  away  between  the  time 
that  Lasar  exposed  tliem  to  view  and  the  night  he 
changed  his  linen,  was  too  much  for  the  lawyers 
of  the  smuggler,  and  Mr.  Daniels  exclaimed: 

**She  was  simply  asked  what  she  did.  Now 
saying  that  she  saw  no  belts  on  him,  her  attention 
was  not  called  to  that  at  all.  It  is  most  singular 
that  she  should  bring  that  out." 

Mr.  Wellington  brought  the  testimony  out  an- 
other way  by  asking:  "When  he  was  making  this 
change  of  underclothing  did  you  observe  his  per- 
son?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Did  he  have  any  belts  on?" 

"No,  sir,  he  had  none." 

"Did  any  conversation  occur  about  the  belts  at 
that  time?" 

"I  turned  around  to  i)ack  his  trunk  and  found 
the  wrappers  that  had  been  around  the  parcels. 
He  had  no  belts,  and  I  thought  these  would  be  in 
his  trunk.  I  asked  him  where  the  diamonds  had 
gone,  and  he  replied,  'Oh,  my  sister  has  taken 
them  to  New  York.'  I  said  nothing  else  to  him 
about  thorn." 

During  the  cross-examination  of  the  witness  Mr. 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        107 

Daniels  was  most  anxious  to  clear  up  Miss 
Cruede's  mind  on  the  question  of  when  she  saw 
Sarah  Lasar  in  the  liotel  hall.  The  counsel  wanted 
to  make  it  ai:>pear  that  the  witness  saw  the  woman 
the  day  of  the  evening  on  which  Lasar  gave  her 
the  two  packages  to  mind. 

The  purpose  was  evident.  They  desired  to  make 
it  appear  that  if  the  witness  had  the  packages, 
presumably  containing  diamonds,  at  any  time 
after  she  had  seen  the  supposedly  hired  carrier, 
Sarah  Lasar,  why,  it  would  be  most  difficult  to 
prove  that  this  woman  carried  them  across  the 
border  and  into  the  States. 

The  opposing  counsel  reckoned  without  their 
host,  however,  for  even  if  the  witness  knew  noth- 
ing of  the  subsequent  movements  of  Mrs.  Lasar, 
the  Government  officials  at  a  future  time  had  no 
great  difficulty  in  tracing  her  every  movement  and 
in  establishing  the  fact  tliat  it  was  she  who  car- 
ried the  smuggled  gems  into  the  metropolis.  So 
Mr.  Daniels  was  merely  wasting  valuable  time, 
though  he  knew  it  not ;  but,  then,  neither  time  nor 
money  has  ever  been  any  consideration  to  the 
stout,  little  lawyer.  The  witness  on  this  occasion, 
however,  satisfied  the  opposing  counsel  with  her 
answers  when  she  said : 

''The  lady  appeared  the  day  that  he  gave  me  the 
packages  to  put  away  and  take  to  bed.  This  was 
the  day  before  he  exhibited  the  diamonds  on  the 
table." 


108   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

''And  Lasar  deliberately  went  to  work  in  your 
presence  and  showed  you  the  diamonds!"  Mr. 
Daniels  asked. 

"Yes,  sir,"  was  the  response.  "I  examined 
some  of  them  and  admired  them  all.  He  asked  me 
if  I  would  like  to  have  some,  and  I  told  him  if  the 
possessing  of  them  were  to  make  me  quite  as  ner- 
vous as  I  had  been  with  them  in  my  care  the  pre- 
vious night,  I  did  not  want  any  of  them  until  we 
got  to  New  York." 

Miss  Cruede  went  into  details  as  to  the  trip  to 
the  metropolis.  Lasar  did  actually  enter  New 
York,  which  was  quite  courageous  of  liim,  in  that 
he  anticipated  his  lawful  wife  pouncing  upon  him 
at  any  time  with  divorce  papers.  The  witness  said 
that  they  left  Montreal  early  in  the  morning  and 
reached  New  York  the  same  evening,  crossing  the 
ferry  to  Jersey  City  without  wasting  any  time  in 
the  larger  city.  Lasar  took  her  to  Taj^lor's  Hotel, 
and  after  registering  her  name  he  saw  that  she 
was  assigned  to  a  comfortable  room,  and  then  left 
her  to  go  to  the  AYashington  Hotel,  near  by,  where 
he  registered  himself.  Then  he  returned  to  Tay- 
lor's Hotel  to  keep  her  company. 

Launching  into  a  long  description  of  what  hap- 
pened after  the  couple  arrived  in  Jersey  City,  Miss 
Cruede  replied  to  a  flood  of  questions  that  she  saw 
Lasar  write  her  name  in  the  Taylor's  Hotel  regis- 
ter, but  that  he  did  not  spell  it  correctly.  He  made 
her  name  read  like  Crusade.     He  did  not  write 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        109 

his  own  name,  or  any  purporting  to  be  his  own,  in 
this  register,  because  he  intended  to  make  it  ap- 
pear that  he  was  living  at  the  Hotel  Washington. 
This  was  because  of  the  nearness  of  his  wife  and 
her  relatives,  all  of  whom  were  anxious  to  catch 
him  in  his  wrongdoing.  Miss  Cruede  identified 
Taylor's  Hotel  register  and  the  entry  Lasar  had 
made  in  it. 

Although  Lasar  had  his  headquarters  at  the 
Washington,  he  spent  very  little  time  there,  ac- 
cording to  the  testimony  of  the  witness.  He  stayed 
every  night  with  the  witness  at  Taylor's  Hotel  and 
left  in  the  morning  for  the  Washington,  where  he 
spent  a  portion  of  each  day.  It  was  her  custom 
while  in  Jersey  City  to  go  to  his  room  in  the  Wash- 
ington Hotel  each  afternoon.  It  was  the  recital 
of  the  continuation  of  their  illicit  relations  that 
caused  the  counsel  for  Lasar  to  ask  the  following 
pertinent  questions: 

"Did  I  understand  you  to  say  that  Mr.  Lasar 
told  you  that  he  would  marry  you  after  he  got  his 
divorce  1 ' ' 

"Yes,  sir." 

"And  stated  that  to  you  repeatedly?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"He  made  that  i^romise  to  you  on  the  steamer?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Of  course,  you  are  not  friendly  with  him,  that 
he  broke  his  promise!" 

"Yes,  I  am  quite  friendly  with  him." 


110   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

* '  Oh,  yon  have  shown  it. ' ' 

"That  is,  I  have  had  no  quarrel  with  Mr.  Lasar. 
I  am  not  angry  with  him,"  was  all  the  witness  said 
in  answer  to  the  lawyer's  unnecessary  remark. 
The  latter  then  said : 

"He  has  not  married  you,  has  he?" 

"No,  sir,"  answered  the  witness,  holding  down  • 
her  head. 

Miss  Cruede  explained  how  she  and  Lasar  re- 
mained in  Jersey  City  until  the  following  Tues- 
day, November  16,  when  Lasar  came  rushing  to 
her  with  the  information  that  she  must  remain  in 
the  country  no  longer,  because  his  people  were  hot 
on  his  trail.  He  engaged  transportation  for  her 
in  the  steamer  Britannic,  which  took  her  away  on 
Wednesday,  November  17,  1897.  Of  this  part  of 
the  affair  I  will  let  the  witness  tell  in  her  own  lan- 
guage. 

"Before  you  left  for  Europe  did  you  have  any 
further  talk  with  Lasar  about  meeting  again  or 
about  your  relations  to  each  other  ? ' '  was  the  ques- 
tion put  by  General  Wellington,  which  brought 
out  the  following  response  from  Miss  Cruede: 

"Yes,  sir.  He  came  to  me  one  day  and  said: 
'Ivy,  you  must  leave  at  once.  You  must  go  by  the 
next  steamer  to  Europe.'  I  asked  him  why,  and 
he  said,  'You  know  my  divorce  suit  is  on,'  and  he 
added:  'If  you  are  in  the  court  it  will  go  against 
me.  I  want  you  to  go  away.  I  will  be  back  again 
in  Europe,  at  the  latest,  in  February.    If  I  cannot 


THE  LASAE  DIAMOND  CASE        111 

get  out  then,  you  shall  come  back  to  me.  I  will 
marry  you  either  here,  in  Liverpool  or  in  Paris, 
but  I  will  come  back  to  you. ' 

"I  asked  him  if  he  would  see  me  off.  That  was 
the  evening  before  I  sailed.  He  said,  'No,'  and 
added  that  it  would  not  look  well  for  him  to  see  me 
off.  He  stated  that  he  would  send  one  of  his  men, 
a  young  boy  who  was  with  him  at  the  time,  but 
who  did  not  hear  the  conversation  he  had  with 
me.  We  were  in  the  metropolis  when  he  told  me 
that  I  would  have  to  sail  the  day  following,  and 
he  did  not  let  me  go  back  to  Jersey  City  that  even- 
ing." 

*'Now,  you  were  not  asked  that,"  shouted  Mr. 
Daniels.  "She  has  evidently  got  the  storj"  pretty 
well  in  mind,  but  I  do  not  propose  to  have  her  de- 
tail it  without  questions.    That  is  all." 

"Proceed,"  said  Mr.  Wellington.  "What  oc- 
curred before  you  sailed,  or  any  conversation  that 
took  place  between  you?" 

"He  told  me  to  be  at  the  Jersey  City  ferry. 
Twenty-third  Street  side,  at  six-thirty  that  even- 
ing, ' '  continued  the  witness.  ' '  He  came  there  with 
a  young  boy  from  the  office.  He  told  me  he  was 
from  the  office.  He  said  he  had  to  have  him  with 
him  to  come  there;  that  possibly  he  would  be  sub- 
panaed  if  he  did  not  have  him  with  him.  We  went 
to  a  restaurant.  He  said  to  me:  'I  am  sorry  I 
have  got  your  ticket  to  go  away.  I  would  rather 
have  you  stay.    I  don 't  think  I  can  do  without  you. 


112    DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

However,  since  you  have  your  ticket  you  shall  go. 
But  I  will  come  back  to  you,  or  you  shall  come  to 
New  York.  We  won't  go  back  to  Jersey  City  to- 
night ;  we  will  stay  in  New  York. ' 

"We  did  stay  that  night  in  New  York  at  a  hotel 
which  I  am  not  prepared  to  say.  I  don't  remem- 
ber. In  the  morning  he  left  me.  He  told  me  he 
could  not  go  to  the  boat;  that  the  young  man 
would  come  to  the  hotel  for  me  and  see  that  I  got 
on  the  steamer  all  right.  He  asked  me  if  I  wanted 
any  money.  He  gave  me  about  seven  pounds.  I 
told  him  that  I  did  not  think  my  people,  after 
knowing  what  I  had  done,  would  have  anything  to 
do  with  me,  and  that  when  I  got  to  England  I 
would  have  to  do  something  to  earn  my  living.  I 
did  not  see  him  again  until  I  met  him  in  the  court 
here." 

''Did  you  ever  have  any  letters  or  communica- 
tions from  Lasar  after  you  went  away!"  General 
Wellington  inquired. 

'M  had  one,  which  he  asked  me  to  destroy,  and 
I  destroyed  it.  I  had  a  cable  from  him,  or,  rather, 
I  say  it  was  sent  through  him.  This  cable  I  re- 
ceived on  the  day  I  sailed  from  Liverpool  to  come 
to  America  to  testify  against  him.    It  was " 

"Don't  say  what  it  was,"  Mr.  Daniels  shouted, 
as  he  jumped  to  his  feet. 

"Do  you  know  where  that  cable  is?"  asked  Mr. 
Wellington. 

"I  gave  it  to  the  agent,  Mr.  Theobald." 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        113 

**And  the  letter  which  you  received  from  him 
and  which  you  destroyed — what  did  that  con- 
tain I" 

A  great  legal  battle  followed  this  query,  the 
court  finally  deciding  that  the  letter  had  no  bear- 
ing on  the  diamonds,  and  the  question  was  ex- 
cluded. Mr.  Wellington  finished  his  direct  exami- 
nation of  the  witness  with  the  question,  and  Mr. 
Daniels  began  his  cross-examination. 

The  Judge  seemingly  tried  to  irritate  the  wit- 
ness from  the  very  outset.  Had  Miss  Cruede 
known  as  much  about  law  as  did  the  for- 
mer Judge,  she  would  in  all  probability  have  made 
it  more  interesting  for  him.  Because  of  space, 
I  would  like  to  pass  over  many  passages  of  arms 
between  the  two,  but  that  the  case  may  be  fairly 
dealt  with,  it  is  necessary  to  give  many  of  these 
exchanges  of  compliments. 

In  reply  to  the  opening  questions  of  Mr.  Daniels 
the  witness  said  that  she  was  born  in  Pueblo  while 
her  parents  were  making  a  tour  through  Mexico. 
Their  home  was  in  England,  where  her  people  had 
been  for  several  hundred  years.  Her  mother  died 
when  she  was  a  little  girl,  but  she  did  not  know 
the  year  of  her  birth,  although  she  was  at  that  mo- 
ment, as  told  by  relatives,  in  her  nineteenth  year. 
She  left  for  college  when  she  was  nine  years  old, 
afterwards  going  to  the  Convent  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  in  Moula,  in  the  south  of  France.  She  trav- 
eled considerably  after  leaving  this  convent,  going 


lU  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

to  Spain,  France,  Italy  and  England,  but  always 
with  relatives.  When  about  fourteen,  she  lived 
in  Paris  with  Chilean  friends,  a  great  painter 
named  Correa.    Then  she  went  to  India. 

Lasar's  lawj^er,  be  it  understood,  was  not  over- 
nice  in  the  propounding  of  these  questions.  There 
was  always  a  significant  ring  to  his  inflection  that 
left  no  other  inference  than  that  he  was  trying  to 
make  it  appear  that  the  girl  was  of  no  great  moral 
account,  and  that  her  mode  of  living  from  the 
cradle  to  the  moment  she  took  the  stand  left  much 
that  was  questionable.  Being  a  spirited  girl,  she 
chafed  under  the  ordeal,  and  those  given  to  mind- 
reading  had  no  difficulty  in  predicting  a  clash  be- 
tween the  lawyer  and  the  witness  before  they  had 
proceeded  very  far.  To  remarks  of  Mr.  Daniels 
like,  ''Answer  my  questions  simply,  and  you  and 
I  will  get  along  very  well,"  the  witness  stifled  her 
wrath  as  best  she  could ;  but  finally  the  girl  could 
contain  herself  no  longer,  and  to  the  question  of 
''With  whom  did  you  go  to  India,  then?"  she  ex- 
claimed, with  face  as  white  as  snow: 

"Sir,  I  do  not  want  to  answer  your  questions  in 
that  way.  I  do  not  see  that  your  questions  have 
anything  to  do  with  the  diamond  case.  If  you  ask 
me  any  questions  as  regards  the  diamond  case, 
if  you  have  anything  to  say  against  me,  you  may 
say  it.  I  will  answer  any  questions  that  you  may 
ask  as  regards  the  diamond  case.  Any  other  an- 
swers I  am  not  bound  to  give  you  or  any  other 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        115 

counsel.  I  am  willing  to  answer  anj^  question  you 
put  to  me  as  regards  Mr.  Lasar  or  my  character, 
but  you  must  not  bring  my  family  affairs  into  any 
court  of  law.  They  have  nothing  to  do  whatever 
with  the  diamond  case.  My  family,  my  father  and 
mother,  are  dead,  both  of  them.  Their  memories 
are  sacred  to  me,  and  you  must  not  bring  them  up, 
either  to  me  or  before  any  one  in  this  court.  I 
think  it  is  against  the  law — I  do  not  know.  I  am 
not  bound  to  answer  your  questions.  I  will  an- 
swer you  anything  that  is  fair.  Anything  that  is 
unfair  I  will  not  answer." 

**Are  you  through!"  asked  Mr.  Daniels,  with 
marked  mockery. 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  the  witness,  "I  am  through." 

"I  shall  see  that  no  improper  questions  are 
asked  of  you,"  said  Judge  Brown  in  a  fatherly 
way. 

"Sir,  I  do  not  think  my  family  affairs  as  a  child 
have  anything  to  do  with  this  case,"  said  Miss 
Cruede. 

"Possibly  you  mistake  the  intent  of  the  ques- 
tion," remarked  the  court,  hoping  to  conciliate 
both  sides. 

"I  do  not  know,  sir,"  announced  the  witness 
humbly. 

Mr.  Wellington,  in  the  hope  of  patching  up  the 
affair,  said :  ' '  Miss  Cruede,  what  you  must  answer 
or  not  answer  comes  from  His  Honor,  and  when 
it  touches  upon  things  you  feel  deeply  about  you 


116    DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

may  appeal  to  liim,  and  he  will  instruct  you,  but 
we  want  you  to  answer  fully  anything  His  Honor 
thinks  competent." 

"I  propose  to  ask  any  question  I  deem  proper," 
said  Mr.  Daniels. 

"I  want  to  know  if  it  is  a  question  of  my  past 
life  or  a  question  of  the  diamond  case  I ' '  demanded 
the  witness. 

''I  am  not  going  to  tell  you.  I  am  going  to  ask 
you  such  questions  as  I  think  proper,"  said  Mr. 
Daniels,  with  a  pronounced  rest  upon  the  personal 
pronoun.  Then  he  asked:  "Will  you  state  your 
age  when  your  father  died  ? ' ' 

"About  seventeen  years,"  responded  the  wit- 
ness. 

"Where  did  he  die?" 

"He  died  abroad.  These  are  questions  that  I  do 
not  care  to  answer." 

"Tell  His  Honor,  please,"  suggested  Mr.  Wel- 
lington. 

"Never  mind,"  said  Judge  Brown.  "He  died 
abroad.    That  is  sufficient." 

"She  only  wants  to  answer  such  questions  as 
she  pleases,"  said  Mr.  Daniels. 

"But,"  said  the  witness,  "there  are  some  ques-. 
tions  that  hurt." 

"Yes,"  remarked  Mr.  Daniels,  "and  there  are 
some  answers  that  you  give  hurt.  You  are  on  the 
stand.    I  want  to  treat  you  in  a  perfectly  gentle- 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        117 

manly  way,  but  you  must  behave  yourself  on  the 
stand." 

This  brought  General  Wellington  up,  who  said : 
"I  do  not  think  that  is  fair.  This  young  lady's 
father  committed  suicide  and  she  feels  very  deeply 
about  it,  and  I  think  these  things  should  be  fairly 
treated." 

"You  went  to  India  with  Mrs.  Le  Strange  and 
her  family.  Now,  what  year  did  you  return  to 
England?"  Mr.  Daniels  then  asked. 

The  fire  of  Becky  Sharp  arose  to  a  conflagration 
in  the  witness,  and  she  made  answer : 

"I  do  not  care  to  answer  these  questions,  sir." 

"Oh,  yes,"  interposed  Judge  Brown. 

"No,  sir,  I  cannot  answer  all  these  questions," 
said  the  witness,  her  face  filled  with  determination. 

"You  are  required  to  answer,"  was  Judge 
Brown's  comment. 

"Is  it  a  question  of  my  life?"  begged  the  wit- 
ness, with  beseeching  eyes. 

"Certainly,"  said  His  Honor. 

"Well,  I  won't.  I  object.  I  cannot  answer  such 
questions.  There  is  no  reason,  really,  why  I  should 
not  answer,  but  I  do  not  care  to  answer.  That  is 
all." 

"Well,  as  nearly  as  you  can,"  pleaded  Mr.  Wel- 
lington. 

"No,  no,  no,"  said  the  witness.  "I  will  not  an- 
swer the  questions." 

There  was  a  long  pause,  during  which  the  legal 


118   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

talent  looked  at  one  another  in  a  hopeless  sort  oi 
way,  and  finally  Judge  Brown  asked  to  have  the 
question  repeated  to  the  witness.  It  was  not 
thought  that  she  would  reply  to  it,  but  she  said 
at  last  that  she  did  not  know,  and  everybody 
heaved  a  sigh  of  relief.  Mr.  Daniels  then  demanded 
to  know  why  she  had  refused  to  answer  the  ques- 
tion if  she  did  not  know,  and  she  made  reply : 

"Because  I  object  to  the  questions  you  put,  all 
along,  not  one  question  more  than  another,  not  the 
last  question  more  than  the  first.  I  object  to  the 
whole. ' ' 

There  was  no  mistaking  the  temper  of  the  wit- 
ness by  this  time,  and  to  the  hundreds  of  questions 
that  followed  she  either  replied  "  I  do  not  remem- 
ber" or  "I  have  not  the  slightest  recollection." 
At  that  particular  time  there  was  no  question  as 
to  the  wisdom  of  Tuke's  lines  when  he  said : 

"He's  a  fool  who  thinks  by  force  or  skill 
To  turn  the  current  of  a  woman's  will." 

But,  then,  the  questions  of  Mr.  Daniels  were  un- 
usually aggravating.  The  learned  Judge  was 
obliged  several  times  to  call  a  halt  in  the  line  of 
questioning,  but  the  chief  counsel  for  the  smug- 
gler would  not  down,  until  finally  Mr.  Wellington 
had  to  say : 

"T  think  the  time  has  come  when  we  ought  to 
circumscribe  that  sort  of  thing.    While  it  is  proper 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        119 

to  go  far  enough  in  tlie  liistoiy  of  the  witness  to 
establish  the  general  history  and  character,  the 
individual  trips,  how  long  they  stayed  in  hotels, 
the  whole  history  of  their  lives  I  believe  has  never 
been  tolerated  by  any  court.  If  they  want  to  dis- 
credit a  witness,  there  are  ways  of  doing  it,  and 
it  seems  to  me  I  have  been  pretty  patient  and  have 
allowed  about  as  full  latitude  as  ever  has  been  al- 
lowed in  any  case,  and  I  now  object  to  further 
inquiry-  on  this  line.  He  should  go  direct  to  the 
testimony  in  chief  and  cross-examine  about  it." 

This  brought  a  bundle  of  skyrockets  from  Mr. 
Daniels,  who  said: 

''I  am  not  indebted  for  my  friend's  patience, 
and  I  do  not  wonder  at  his  impatience.  I  am  on 
my  rights  to  find  out  all  about  the  antecedents  of 
this  witness.  I  have  a  right  to  do  it.  She  comes 
on  the  stand  here  voluntarily.  She  comes  over 
here  from  London  nnder  pay,  three  hundred 
pounds — fifteen  hundred  dollars.  She  has  come 
here  to  betray  a  man  who  she  says  promised  to 
marry  her.  Now,  I  submit  I  have  the  right  to  go 
into  the  antecedents  of  this  lady,  and  I  am  doing 
it  in  as  tender  and  careful  a  way  as  I  can.  If  the 
court  stops  me,  I  must  stop.  Now  we  have  got  her 
here  in  New  York  where  I  can  confirm  or  contra- 
dict her." 

Miss  Cruede's  face  became  ghastly  white  when 
Mr.  Daniels  referred  to  the  sum  that  the  Govern- 
ment had  guaranteed  her  to  come  to  America.  The 


120   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

color  left  her  lips,  her  eyes  blazed  with  a  fire  that 
must  have  been  burning  her  innermost  soul,  and 
with  the  reference  to  her  betraying  Lasar  she  at- 
tempted to  rise  in  her  chair,  but  fell  back  when 
Mr.  Wellington  waved  his  hand  at  her.  There  was 
no  stopping  her,  though,  when  Daniels  had  ceased, 
and  with  trembling  lips  and  shaking  limbs  she  rose 
from  the  witness  chair.  She  had  worn  a  sailor  hat 
to  court  that  morning  and  had  taken  it  from  her 
head  and  laid  it  down  alongside  the  witness  chair 
as  she  took  the  stand.  As  she  rose,  shaking  like 
an  aspen,  to  do  nobody  knew  what,  her  hair  in 
some  mysterious  way  became  unfastened  and  fell 
in  a  great  mass  upon  her  shoulders  and  back. 

Several  attendants  of  the  court,  fearing  that  she 
meant  the  lawyer  bodily  harm,  sprang  forward  to 
grasp  her,  but  she  waved  them  off,  and,  pointing 
her  finger  at  Lasar,  who  sat  some  twenty  feet 
away,  she  shouted: 

''//  /  am  not  to  he  believed,  ask  Max  Lasar  to 
get  up  and  swear  before  his  God,  who  is  higher- 
than  tve  are,  ivhether  I  have  spoken  the  truth  or 
not.  Will  you  get  up?  I  am  not  even  angry  with 
him.  I  have  not  even  betrayed  him.  I  won't  go 
against  him,  but  I  must  tell  the  truth." 

Expert  minds  agree  that  it  was  one  of  the  most 
dramatic  scenes  ever  enacted  in  a  court  of  law. 
Lasar  blushed  to  the  roots  and  attempted  to  brazen 
it  out,  but  could  not  withstand  the  wild  stare  of 
the  girl  he  had  wronged.    She  took  her  eyes  from 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        121 

him  not  for  a  second  while  she  was  speaking,  and 
when  she  returned  to  her  chair  everybody  seemed 
to  be  struck  dumb  with  the  sensational  scene.  At 
length  Judge  Brown  said : 

''You  have  asked  the  question  and  you  are 
bound  by  her  answer.  I  have  been  very  patient 
with  an  examination  of  this  kind,  in  a  case  all  di- 
rected to  one  inquiry.  It  is  in  the  discretion  of 
the  court,  and  I  shall  exercise  it  reasonably  in  your 
favor,  and  I  have  to  what  I  think  an  unreasonable 
extent. 

''A  few  moments  ago  I  said  I  would  allow  you 
to  continue  the  examination  of  her  where  she  had 
been  up  to  the  time  of  this  transaction,  but  that 
must  not  be  pursued  unnecessarily.  If  you  have 
any  specific  foundation  for  the  line  of  inquiry,  you 
have  the  right  to  direct  the  witness'  attention  to 
that  and  ascertain  it,  but  in  a  general  way  I  must 
say  that  very  much  of  what  you  have  asked  has 
been  a  roving  examination. ' ' 

"Necessarily  so,"  said  Judge  Daniels,  seeming 
not  subdued. 

' '  I  overrule  the  last  question, ' '  was  the  decision 
of  the  court. 

"What  party  did  you  go  to  Canada  with?" 
asked  Mr.  Daniels,  as  chic  as  ever. 

"I  do  not  intend  to  tell  you,  sir,"  replied  the 
witness.    "I  am  tired  of  answering." 

"Have  you  any  special  point  to  prove  in  regard 


122   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

to  these  inquiries  you  are  making!"  put  in  Judge 
Brown. 

"Certainly,"  said  Mr.  Daniels. 

''AVell,"  was  the  opinion  of  His  Honor,  "I  do 
not  see  in  your  examination  any  indication  of  it 
beyond  the  mere  examination.  I  mean,  have  you 
anything  in  mind  to  which  you  wish  to  bring  the 
witness'  testimony  and  found  her  testimony  upon! 
If  it  is  a  mere  fishing  inquiry,  I  believe  we  have 
had  enough  of  it.  If  you  have  any  specific  thing 
which  your  examination  is  directed  to,  I  shall  most 
likely  allow  it.  She  tells  you  she  went  with  friends 
to  Canada." 

''I  want  to  know  the  names  of  the  friends,"  said 
Mr.  Daniels. 

"I  exclude  it,"  said  the  court. 

Another  account  was  being  summed  up  for  the 
lawyer,  howeve)-,  though  he  was  not  aware 
of  it.  This  took  shape  in  a  reference  by  the  wit- 
ness to  that  distinguished  blackguard,  Gold,  the 
hired  friend  and  intimate  of  Lasar,  whom  the  lat- 
ter sent  to  the  girl's  boarding-house  in  Liverpool 
to  spi]-it  her  away  from  Agent  McCormack. 

Gold,  as  told  in  a  previous  chapter,  worked  upon 
the  feelings  of  the  girl  by  saying  that  enemies  of 
Lasar  were  trying  to  get  her  to  tell  falsehoods 
about  the  smuggler.  All  Hint  Gold  wanted  was  to 
get  the  poor  fool  of  a  girl  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
Government  agent.  He  wanted  something  else, 
too,  but  that  is  another  story  that  he  must  some 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        123 

day  answer  for  personally.  At  all  events  lie  treated 
the  Cruede  girl  shamefully,  and  when  he  accom- 
plished his  purpose  literally  threw  her  into  the 
gutter.  Mr.  Daniels  did  not  aspire  to  the  relation 
by  the  witness  of  any  of  Gold's  doings.  Dear,  no ! 
But  he  would  be  insistent  in  asking  questions,  and 
this  is  how  he  fell  into  his  own  trap. 

*'And  did  you  live  in  Liverpool  and  at  Mrs.  Ben- 
nett's all  the  time  until  you  took  the  other  trip  on 
which  you  met  Mr.  Lasar?" 

''No,  sir,"  said  the  witness.  '*I  was  not  living 
with  Mrs.  Bennett  at  the  time  I  left.  I  lived  with 
Mrs.  Bennett  up  to  the  time  that  Mr.  Gold  took 
me  away — Mr.  Lasar's  friend,"  said  the  witness. 

''I  move  to  strike  that  out,"  demanded  Mr.  Dan- 
iels. "It  simply  shows  the  animus  of  the  wit- 
ness." 

But  the  court  unconsciously  added  fuel  to  the 
fire  by  asking : 

"Was  this  after  the  Labrador  trip!" 

*  *  Yes,  sir, ' '  said  the  witness.  * '  That  is  the  time 
I  lived  with  that  lady." 

"Did  you  not  live  in  Montague  Street,  Russell 
Square,  London  I ".  asked  Mr.  Daniels,  with  an  ex- 
pressive shake  of  his  head. 

"After,  sir,"  declared  the  witness.  "After  Mr. 
Gold  came  to  London  and  took  me  there  and  left 
me  there.  It  was  Mr.  Gold  who  took  me  from  the 
hotel." 

"I  simply  asked  you  whether  you  lived  there." 


124   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

*'I  am  simply  telling  you  how  I  got  there." 

Finding  that  he  could  not  hide  the  skeleton  of 
the  Gold  matter  in  Lasar's  closet,  the  latter 's  law- 
yer then  asked : 

"You  went  to  London  with  Mr.  Gold?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"How  many  weeks  was  it  that  you  stayed  in 
Liverpool  ? ' ' 

"I  have  other  things  to  explain  before  I  can 
say  I  went  to  Mr.  Gold." 

"Just  answer  the  question.  That  is  what  you 
are  here  for.  I  don't  know  why  you  want  to  ex- 
plain anything.  You  stayed  in  Liverpool  some 
four  or  five  weeks ! ' ' 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Where  did  you  stop  in  London  when  you  went 
with  Gold?" 

"At  the  Holborn  Viaduct  Hotel." 

"You  went  first  to  the  Holborn  Viaduct!"  asked 
Judge  Brown. 

"Yes,  sir,  with  the  friend  of  Mr.  Lasar,  Mr. 
Gold,  who  took  me  there." 

Then  followed  a  long  encounter  between  counsel 
as  to  the  right  of  Lasar's  lawyers  to  have  several 
letters,  claimed  to  be  written  by  Miss  Cruede,  ad- 
mitted as  evidence.  Miss  Cruede  denied  that  the 
letters  or  envelopes  were  in  her  handwriting,  but 
admitted  that  she  wrote  a  number  of  letters  to 
Lasar  from  England  after  she  left  him  in  New 
York.    She  likewise  admitted  that  while  in  Lon- 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE         125 

don  with  Gold  she  signed  a  paper  at  his  solicita- 
tion without  knowing  the  contents  of  the  same. 

It  transpired,  however,  that  Gold  had  put  up  a 
job  on  her,  as  one  of  the  lawj-ers  expressed  it,  the 
paper  she  signed  being  intended  as  a  certificate 
of  his  good  character  from  her,  and  also  many- 
other  things  that  were  hardly  true.  Concerning 
these  letters,  the  principal  evidence  educed  was  as 
follows. 


CHAPTER  VI 

"Before  spending  much  more  time  about  these 
letters,  I  must  ask  you  whether  you  claim  that 
they  are  connected  with  the  diamond  easel"  was 
the  query  put  by  the  learned  Judge. 

"Yes,  connected  with  the  case,"  remarked  Mr. 
Daniels. 

"That  will  not  do,"  said  Judge  Brown.  "Are 
they  connected  with  the  diamonds  1 ' ' 

"I  will  let  Your  Honor  see  them,"  gravely  re- 
marked the  leading  lawyer  for  Lasar. 

"I  shall  have  to  rule  it  out  under  objection  if 
they  are  not  connected  with  the  diamond  busi- 
ness," was  the  decision  of  the  court. 

This  brought  Mr.  Crane,  the  assistant  to  Mr. 
Daniels,  into  action,  and  his  rapid-fire  guns  gave 
out  the  following: 

"Suppose  any  one  of  these  letters  attacks  the 
credibility  of  this  witness  for  veracity!  Suppose 
it  contradicted  some  of  her  statements  1  Suppose 
it  showed  a  different  state  of  facts  with  regard  to 
her  journey?" 

"You  have  laid  no  foundation  for  that  as  yet," 
Judge  Brown  said.    ' '  I  shall  exclude  it  still  unless 

136 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        127 

you  do.  You  liave  uot  asked  whether  she  has  said 
or  written  so-and-so.  Then  you  may  do  so.  Sim- 
ply as  independent  writings  they  would  not  be  ad- 
missible unless  they  are  connected.  It  is  for  that 
reason  I  do  not  want  to  spend  much  time  on  any- 
tliing  that  cannot  be  used  in  evidence." 

"Am  I  not  entitled  to  ask  whether  she  wrote  to 
Lasar,  'I  hear  you  are  in  trouble,  and  they  are  try- 
ing to  get  me  to  tell  lies  about  you  ? '  "  asked  Mr. 
Daniels. 

"No,"  said  His  Honor.  "You  cannot  get  a  let- 
ter in  that  way. ' ' 

In  the  sparring  that  followed  an  expose  of  how 
the  wicked  Gold  managed  to  get  the  witness  to  sign 
a  paper  to  aid  Lasar  was  made.  It  came  about  in 
this  way : 

"When  you  got  to  London  with  Gold  you  have 
stated  where  you  stopped.  Now,  please  look  at 
this  signature  and  state  whether  it  is  your  signa- 
ture." 

"No,  sir,  it  is  not  my  signature,"  said  the  wit- 
ness, adding,  after  a  pause,  "May  I  look  at  it 
again?" 

"I  have  no  objection  to  your  reading  the  whole 
of  it  now  to  refresh  your  memory." 

Miss  Cruede  read  the  paper  and  then  said:  "I 
have  never  before  seen  this  paper." 

'  *  Does  it  look  like  the  paper  you  signed  in  Lon- 
don!" 

"I  did  not  see  the  paper  in  that  way.    I  was 


128   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

asked  to  sign  a  paper.    May  I  explain  how  I  at- 
tached my  name  to  the  paper  ? ' ' 

"I  did  not  ask  you  that,"  sliouted  Mr.  Daniels; 
and  then,  seeing  that  he  was  rapidly  getting  into 
shoal  water,  he  announced  that  he  desired  to  with- 
draw the  question. 

Mr.  Wellington  then  interfered  with :  ' '  Now 
that  the  question  has  been  asked  and  partly  an- 
swered I  insist  upon  her  answering  in  full." 

''Yes,"  said  His  Honor,  addressing  Mr.  Daniels, 
"you  stopped  her,  and  I  allow  her  to  explain  her 
answer,  unless  you  wish  it  all  stricken  out." 

"Strike  the  question  out,  'Does  that  look  like 
the  paper?'  "  announced  Mr.  Daniels.  Then  he 
asked  the  witness:  "You  went  to  London  when 
Gold  took  you  there  1 ' ' 

' '  Yes, ' '  said  the  witness.  ' ' I  could  not  go  before 
he  had  paid  my  bills  to  go  there,  because  I  had  not 
been  doing  anything.  I  had  to  live  there  by  put- 
ting away  and  selling  every  article  of  jewelry  and 
every  article  of  clothing  I  could  spare.  That  is 
how  I  lived  from  the  time  I  left  Lasar  until  I  left 
there." 

It  may  be  said  in  this  connection  that  Gold  had 
told  the  girl,  among  other  things,  that  Lasar  had 
sent  him  for  her;  that  he  was  to  supply  her  with 
money,  which  he  said  Lasar  had  furnished;  and, 
believing  that  the  man  was  sjieaking  the  truth  and 
that  her  old  lover  had  not  forgotten  her,  after  all, 
she  decided  to  go,  but  was  unable  to  leave  until 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        129 

her  things  had  been  redeemed  from  pawn.  The 
only  purpose  that  Gold  had,  beyond  a  more  selfish 
one,  was  to  spirit  the  girl  away  so  that  McCor- 
mack  or  myself  could  not  lay  hands  upon  her.  This 
will  explain  why  Mr.  Daniels  received  the  last  an- 
swer with  no  great  favor,  and  when  it  had  been 
made  he  looked  savagely  at  Miss  Cruede  and 
asked : 

''Are  you  through?" 

The  witness  said  she  was,  smiling  as  she  said 
so.  This  irritated  the  rotund  lawyer  the  more, 
but  he  had  to  keep  his  temper  at  any  price  upon 
his  comfort.    Then  this  was  his  next  query : 

"Had  you  any  occupation  when  you  met  Mr. 
Theobald  for  the  first  time?" 

''No;  I  was  looking  for  one,"  said  the  witness. 

' '  Then  on  the  promise  of  three  hundred  pounds 
you  came  over  here?" 

"The  money  was  to  me  a  second  consideration," 
was  the  answer  to  Mr.  Daniels'  question. 

"I  move  to  strike  that  out,"  said  Mr.  Daniels 
before  the  full  importance  of  the  answer  dawned 
upon  him.  Suddenly,  imagining  that  he  had  caught 
the  witness  in  a  bog-hole,  he  exclaimed  condescend- 
ingly : ' '  Never  mind.  Leave  it  in.  It  doesn  't  make 
any  difference.  If  money  was  a  second  considera- 
tion, Miss  Cruede,  what  was  the  main  considera- 
tion of  your  coming  over  here?" 

Mr.  Daniels  drooped  his  left  eyelid  suggestively 
to  his  law  partner  as  he  put  the  last  question,  as 


130   DEFRAUDING  THP]  GOVERNMENT 

mucli  as  to  say:  "Well,  I  have  got  her  into  a  nice 
mess,  and  just  watch  how  I  shall  make  her  dodge 
the  question."  Miss  Cruede  looked  the  little  coun- 
sel straight  in  the  eye  as  she  made  reply : 

"The  main  consideration  was  that  I  was  being 
watched.  I  did  not  want  any  more  Golds  following 
me,  and  T  did  not  want  to  be  under  the  supervision 
of  any  other  man,  of  English  police,  or  of  Ameri- 
can police.  T  was  tired  of  it.  I  found  it  was  better 
for  me  to  tell  the  truth.  I  did  not  ask  for  compen- 
sation." 

My !  but  it  was  a  scorcher,  right  into  the  vitals, 
as  the  chap  said  when  he  poked  his  elbow  into  the 
business  side  of  the  man  with  the  big  stomach.  It 
made  the  lawyer  for  Lasar  think  twice  before  he 
asked  another  question.  He  was  in  an  inquisitive 
mood,  though,  even  though  he  was  getting  the 
worst  of  the  little  engagement.  That  is  why  he 
finally  asked : 

"Who  offered  you  compensation?" 

"Mr.  Theobald  said  that  the  Government  would 
give  me  so  much  money,"  replied  the  witness.  "I 
did  not  ask  for  the  money,  and  he  said  they  did 
not  expect  me  to  come  over  here  for  nothing.  I 
said  that  the  sum  was  altogether  too  much.  He 
did  not  tell  me  what  I  had  to  say." 

A  long  argument  as  to  the  admissibility  of  cer- 
tain evidence  regarding  the  chaperon  of  the  wit- 
ness on  the  trip  to  this  country  followed  at  this 
stage  in  the  proceedings.     The  court  would  not 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        131 

permit  the  counsel  for  Lasar  to  question  Miss 
Cruede  very  much  on  that  score,  giving  as  a  rea- 
son that  anything  affecting  the  chaperon  occurred 
after  the  diamond  seizure,  and  could  therefore 
have  no  material  connection  with  the  case.  Mr. 
Daniels  made  plea  after  plea  to  question  along 
this  line,  but  Judge  Brown  shook  his  head  in  the 
negative  each  time.    At  last  Mr.  Daniels  said : 

''Now,  I  propose  to  show  in  a  general  way  that 
this  lady,  the  chaperon,  has  been  in  the  Govern- 
ment service,  paid  regularly  by  the  Government; 
that  she  has  had  charge  of  this  witness  ever  since 
she  has  been  here ;  that  she  has  occupied  the  same 
room  with  her ;  that  she  has  never  gone  anywhere 
without  her;  and  that  the  Government  has  had 
complete  supervision  and  control  over  this  wit- 
ness since  she  has  been  here," 

"All  of  that  has  already  been  proved,"  was  the 
comment  of  the  court. 

Mr.  Daniels,  about  that  time,  was  evidently  try- 
ing to  convey  the  impression  that  it  was  a  fearful 
crime  for  the  Government  to  keep  the  witness  in 
the  hands  of  such  a  dangerous  thing  as  a  chap- 
eron ;  that  the  witness  and  her  companion  had  even 
occupied  the  same  stateroom  on  the  way  over; 
and  that,  horror  of  horrors!  they  had  even 
slept  in  the  same  bed  when  at  various  ho- 
tels. What  was  the  chief  outrage  upon  Lasr.r 
and  his  counsel,  however,  was  that  the  witness 
was  not  turned  loose  into  their  pasture  that  she 


132    DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

might  be  plucked  by  the  human  buzzards.  This, 
at  least,  would  have  prevented  her  appearance  at 
the  trial,  and  undoubtedly  the  Government  would 
have  had  a  very  weak  case  without  Witness 
Cruede.  Counsel  for  this  blackguard  did  not  re- 
fer, however,  to  the  fact  that  for  months  before 
the  trial  every  human  agency  that  Lasar  could  em- 
ploy was  flaunted  with  brazen  effrontery  before 
the  eyes  of  the  Government  officials  in  the  hope 
of  seducing  the  witness  or  in  spiriting  her  away. 
It  was  therefore  no  difficult  thing  to  understand 
why  the  puissant  lawyer  for  Lasar  did  not  relish 
the  admission  that  the  witness  and  her  chaperon 
had  slept  in  the  same  bed. 

Besieged  with  questions  as  to  her  movements 
with  this  chaperon,  the  witness  related  in  detail 
every  moment  of  her  time  from  the  day  she  ar- 
rived in  the  metropolis  in  the  steamer  Cymric  until 
she  again  made  her  appearance  in  New  York,  after 
having  succeeded  in  keeping  the  cowardly  Lasar 
at  bay.  The  Government's  case  lost  nothing 
by  the  telling  of  the  story,  although  Mr.  Daniels 
tried  hard,  if  not  altogether  cleverly,  to  make  it 
otherwise.  At  its  conclusion  the  court  said  to  Mr. 
Daniels: 

''I  assume  as  a  matter  of  course  that  the  Gov- 
ernment having  brought  a  witness  here  at  such 
expense  would  keep  its  eye  on  her.  Mr.  Welling- 
ton, have  you  any  objection  to  admitting  that  from 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        133 

the  time  she  came  here  until  this  minute  she  has 
been  under  the  supervision  of  certain  people?" 

' '  That  may  be  spread  on  the  record, ' '  said  Mr. 
Wellington.  "I  claim,  however,  that  it  is  totally 
incompetent,  but  the  fact  is  undoubted. ' ' 

"Then  I  shall  rule  the  whole  thing  out,"  said 
the  court. 

''Also  the  reference  to  the  chaperon?"  queried 
the  counsel  for  Lasar. 

The  court  did  not  make  any  further  reply  on 
this  point,  so  Mr.  Wellington  said  as  a  clincher : 

"I  am  willing  to  say  in  addition  that  the  chap- 
eron has  been  with  this  witness  at  all  times.  Per- 
haps I  should  add  that  there  has  been  with  them 
at  all  times  a  secret  agent  of  the  Treasury  Depart- 
ment, going  with  the  two  ladies  to  protect  them 
from  attempted  effort  to  either  injure  or  abduct 
the  witness." 

I  knaw  that  Mr.  Daniels  did  not  enjoy  hearing 
this  truthful  utterance  by  the  Government  attor- 
ney, but  he  had  invited  that  sort  of  trouble  and 
had  to  grin  and  bear  what  he  got.  It  looked  as  if 
he  had  had  enough  of  the  affair  when,  a  few  min- 
utes later,  he  stepped  back  and  turned  the  witness 
over  to  Mr.  Wellington  for  the  re-direct  examina- 
tion. The  United  States  attorney  asked  the  wit- 
ness a  number  of  questions  about  her  relatives, 
which  she  readily  answered.  Similar  questions 
had  been  asked  by  Mr.  Daniels,  but  she  had  re- 
fused to  reply.    So  Mr.  Wellington  inquired : 


134   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

"Are  you  willing  to  state  to  the  jury,  with  the 
courtesy  and  permission  of  my  friends,  the  rea- 
sons why  you  were  not  willing  to  give  the  persons 
and  names  of  your  relatives  and  friends  on  the 
occasion  when  questioned  by  the  other  side  and 
you  refused  to  answer?" 

An  objection  was  raised  by  Mr.  Daniels,  who 
said  he  was  not  permitted  on  cross-examination 
to  go  into  the  subject,  and  that,  in  addition,  the 
question  called  for  a  conclusion  and  operation  of 
the  witness'  mind.  The  objection  was  overruled, 
and  Mr.  Wellington  asked : 

"Now  give  to  the  jury  the  reason  why  you  ob- 
jected and  were  unwilling  to  give  those  names." 

"Because  my  people  already  know  something  of 
the  Lasar  affair,  and  they  refused  to  give  me  any- 
thing, telling  me  that  if  in  future " 

"Never  mind  that.  Simply  confine  yourself  to 
the  reasons  why  you  were  unwilling  to  state 
them. ' ' 

"I  did  not  care  to  have  their  names  in  this  af- 
fair, as  they  knew  nothing  at  all  about  these  pro- 
ceedings.   That  was  my  only  reason." 

"You  have  been  asked  about  seeing  certain 
persons  in  London.  Miss  Cruede,  I  understood 
you  to  say  that  you  saw  Mr.  Theobald.  You  had 
before  that  seen  Mr.  McCormack  ? ' ' 

"Yes,  sir,  before." 

"And  Mr.  McCormack  had  tried  to  induce  you 
to  come  here  as  a  witness?" 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        135 

*'Yes,  sir." 

''And  after  that  Mr.  Gold  came  and  saw  you? 
Came  the  same  evening  that  Mr.  McCormack  came 
there?" 

*'Yes,  the  same  evening." 

''And  induced  you  to  go  to  London?" 

"He  told  me " 

An  objection  resulted  in  the  question  being  with- 
drawn, and  Mr.  Wellington  then  asked : 

"I  asked  you  whether  you  did  go  off  with  him 
to  London  the  same  day  you  saw  Mr,  McCor- 
mack?" 

"I  went  to  see  Mr.  Lasar  in  London  with  Mr. 
Gold.  I  was  led  to  believe  that  Mr.  Lasar  was 
there  and  that  he  wanted  to  see  me." 

"Then  after  that,  while  you  were  in  London, 
you  saw  Mr.  Theobald  and  made  the  arrangements 
with  him  to  come  to  this  country?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Did  Mr.  Theobald  or  anybody  else  on  behalf 
of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  at  any 
time  or  anywhere  indicate  to  you  what  you  were 
to  testify  in  this  case  ? ' ' 

"Only  yourself,  when  you  told  me  to  go  into 
the  court  and  say — you  said,  'Miss  Cruede,  you 
must  go  in  and  must  go  on  the  stand  and  must  tell 
the  truth.'  " 

Mr.  Crane,  in  behalf  of  Lasar,  arose  and  in- 
quired of  Mr.  Wellington  if  he  wished  his  conver- 
sation with  the  witness  to  go  in. 


136   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

* '  No,  indeed, ' '  remarked  Mr.  Wellington,  laugh- 
ing. The  question  was  again  read,  and  the  wit- 
ness replied  that  nobobdy  had  told  her  what  she 
was  to  testify. 

Mr.  Daniels,  in  his  re-cross-examination,  asked 
Miss  Cruede  if  she  was  aware  that  her  chaperon 
had  at  one  time  lived  in  Detroit.  The  witness 
made  answer: 

"I  never  saw  the  lady  and  never  heard  of  her 
until  I  saw  her  the  day  I  sailed  and  was  intro- 
duced to  her." 

The  witness  then  left  the  stand,  and  as  she  did 
so  caught  the  eye  of  Lasar  staring  at  her.  She 
went  by  without  even  passing  him  the  time  of  day. 

The  last  day  of  the  trial  she  was  called  again 
to  the  witness  stand  on  the  request  of  Mr.  Daniels, 
who  desired  to  put  her  through  the  paces  again 
regarding  certain  letters  and  on  the  letters  in  his 
possession  which  he  claimed  she  had  written.  The 
Judge  asked  the  witness: 
'     "Is  this  envelope  in  your  handwriting?" 

"It  looks  like  it,  but  I  don't  think  it  is.  It  can- 
not be  mine.  All  my  letters  to  Lasar  were  re- 
turned to  me." 

"Now,  I  ask  the  court  to  rule  whether  I  have 
an  opportunity  to  see  these  letters  and  envel- 
opes," said  Mr.  Wellington. 

"I  think  he  should  show  them,"  said  His  Honor. 

"Not  until  I  offer  them  in  evidence,"  replied 
Mr.  Daniels. 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        137 

"I  think  so,"  ruled  the  court. 

''We  may  not  get  them  in  as  evidence  at  all," 
announced  Mr.  Daniels. 

"Unless  you  do  it  now  I  shall  not  permit  any- 
thing further  about  them — any  comparison,"  was 
the  decision  of  Judge  Brown. 

''Here  is  another  envelope,"  said  Mr.  Daniels, 
holding  one  up  to  the  witness  and  ignoring  the  de- 
cision just  made.  "Will  you  look  at  that  and  see 
whether  it  is  in  your  handwriting!" 

The  presiding  Judge  then  said:  "I  shall  cut 
short  the  examination  if  you  do  not  obey  the  direc- 
tion of  the  court.  I  have  suffered  you  to  call  this 
witness  for  cross-examination.  If  you  ask  ques- 
tions on  exhibits  and  do  not  show  them  I  shall  not 
permit  you  to  ask  anything  further." 

Mr.  Daniels  apologized,  and  then  asked  the  wit- 
ness: 

"Is  that  your  handwriting?" 

"It  is  a  good  copy,"  said  Miss  Cruede. 

"Answer  the  question,"  directed  the  court. 

"My  letters  were  returned  to  me.  How  can 
those  be  my  letters  ? ' ' 

"Is  this  in  your  handwriting  or  notl" 

"It  is  not." 

"You  say  it  is  a  good  copy?" 

"Yes,  it  is  a  good  copy." 

"These  are  all  copies'?" 

"I  was  told  my  letters  were  copied  when  the 


138   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

otliers,  wliicli  were  originals,  were  returned  to  me 
by  Mr.  Gold." 

' '  I  move  to  strike  that  out, ' '  said  Mr.  Daniels. 

It  was  stricken  out  by  order  of  the  court  as  not 
being  evidence. 

By  the  direction  of  the  Government's  attorneys 
Miss  Cruede  was  recalled  to  the  stand  November 
23,  and  Mr.  Wellington  asked  her : 

"Miss  Cruede,  you  have  stated  that  you  had 
written  letters  at  various  times  to  Max  Lasar.  Do 
you  know  what  became  of  those  letters  after- 
wards ? ' ' 

Mr.  Murphy  objected,  and  the  court  said :  "The 
objection  should  not  be  sustained,  for  the  reason 
that  this  matter  was  wholly  brought  out  by  your 
side  in  showing  her  letters,  which  it  is  perfectly 
proper  should  receive  some  explanation,  if  she 
wishes  to  make  any,  or  if  the  counsel  desires  to 
make  any  explanation  about  it. 

' '  One  point  of  view  why  I  think  it  is  proper  that 
the  witness  should  answer  this  question  is  in  ex- 
planation of  her  previous  statement  when  the  en- 
velopes were  shown,  and  she  said  the  address  on 
some  of  them  was  in  her  handwriting,  but  that  the 
letters  were  taken  from  them,  and  she  said  they 
were  not  in  her  handwriting. 

"Anything  which  might  clear  up  any  suspicion 
about  that,  or  about  her  testimony  upon  such  a 
point  as  that,  I  think  should  be  offered.  It  is  not 
so  much  what  became  of  them,  but  it  is  an  explana- 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        139 

tion  of  lier  statement  that  the  letters  taken  from 
her  envelopes,  which  she  admitted  were  her  hand- 
writing, were  not  hers.  Ask  her  how  and  when 
the  letters  were  returned  to  her." 

Mr.  Wellington  acted  upon  the  suggestion,  and 
the  witness  made  reply : 

*  *  By  Mr.  Gold,  on  the  evening  that  he  arrived  in 
Liverpool  to  take  me  to  London." 

There  was  an  objection  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Dan- 
iels to  further  questioning  along  this  line.  Doubt- 
less the  lawyer  thought  that  it  was  getting  very, 
very  hot,  as  the  children  say  at  play,  when  they 
approach  anything  they  are  in  search  of.  The 
court  gave  this  opinion  as  to  the  rights  of  both 
sides : 

''I  am  inclined  to  think  she  has  a  right  to  state 
what  Gold  said  to  her  as  a  part  of  the  act  of  re- 
turn. These  are  letters  addressed  to  the  claimant 
here,  and  presumably  they  came  from  him,  en- 
trusted by  him  to  Gold,  and  I  think  what  he  said 
in  giving  them  back  to  this  witness  is  a  part  of 
that  act.  I  allow  the  question,  'Wliere  were  you 
when  the  letters  were  returned  to  you  ? '  " 

^*I  was  on  the  train  going  from  Liverpool  to 
London,"  answered  Miss  Cruede.  "But  there  is 
an  explanation  needed.  When  Mr.  Gold  came  to 
Liverpool  and  sought  me  he  said  he  was  a  friend 
of  Lasar  and  had  been  sent  by  him.  I  said  to  him : 
'If  you  are  a  friend  of  Lasar,  then  give  me  some 
proof.'     He  said:    'Oh,  come  out  into  the  other 


UO  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

room.  I  have  lots  of  proof.'  We  went  into  the 
other  room,  and  he  opened  his  coat  and  removed 
from  an  inside  pocket  a  large  pile  of  letters. 
'These  are  your  letters  to  Lasar,'  he  said.  I  could 
not  see  the  writing  upon  the  letters  very  well,  and 
I  said  to  him:  'Come  into  the  light  and  let  me 
see.*  He  made  reply:  'No;  I  will  show  you  these 
upon  the  train  when  we  go  to  London. ' 

"On  the  train  he  again  held  the  bundle  of  let- 
ters up  to  my  view,  and  I  asked  him  if  they  were 
my  letters,  and  he  said  they  were.  I  asked  him  to 
let  me  see  them,  and  he  gave  me  the  bundle.  I  in- 
quired of  him :  'Did  Lasar  give  you  these  letters?' 
He  &aid:  'Yes,  he  gave  them  to  me  to  show  you 
that  I  am  his  friend.'  I  was  quite  angry  over  it 
all,  I  admit,  and  said:  'If  Mr.  Lasar  does  not  know 
how  to  keep  my  letters,  written  as  a  girl,  I  will 
keep  them.'  He  laughed  and  exclaimed:  'Ah,  but 
we  have  copies.  It  is  all  right.'  This  is  all  I  know 
about  it.  I  kept  the  letters  and  subsequently  de- 
stroyed them  all.  There  were  only  a  few  envelopes 
among  them.  I  asked  Mr.  Gold  for  the  other 
envelopes,  and  he  said  that  they  had  been  de- 
stroyed." 

Mr.  Murphy  then  asked  the  witness:  "Miss 
Cruede,  did  you  keep  account  of  all  the  letters  that 
you  wrote  to  Mr.  Lasar?" 

"I  had  written  one  letter  every  week,  and  on 
looking  over  those  letters  I  found  that  there  was  a 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        141 

letter  for  every  week  up  to  a  month  before  Mr. 
Gold  had  come.  That  was  the  month  I  had  not 
written.  I  was  tired  of  writing  and  had  not  writ- 
ten. So  that  all  my  letters  sent  from  Liverpool 
were  returned  to  me  by  Gold." 


CHAPTER  VII 

With  an  idea  of  showing  that  Mr.  Armstrong, 
acting  as  the  agent  of  Lasar,  offered  for  sale  some 
diamonds  at  a  price  below  their  real  value,  some 
of  the  identical  diamonds  that  Lasar  smuggled 
into  this  country  by  waj^  of  Canada,  the  Govern- 
ment called  to  the  stand  a  diamond  broker  doing 
business  in  Manhattan,  who  had  known  Lasar  for 
some  years,  but  knew  him  personally  up  to  that 
time  about  four  years  onlj'-.  The  witness  said  that 
he  had  had  a  diamond  transaction  with  Maxwell 
in  November  of  1895.  All  reference  to  the  pur- 
chase of  diamonds  by  the  witness  from  Maxwell 
was  strenuously  objected  to  by  Ed  Murphy,  of 
counsel  for  Lasar,  and  when  the  matter  had  been 
referred  to  the  court  for  a  decision  as  to  its  ad- 
missibility, Mr.  Wellington  argued  as  follows : 

"I  purpose  to  show  that  on  this  purchase  from 
Maxwell  the  payment  was  made  directly  to  Mr. 
Lasar  and  the  receipt  given  by  Lasar  for  the  pur- 
chase money  of  these  very  diamonds." 

"This  is  the  question  that  is  propounded  to  the 
witness:  'Did  he  have  a  sale  of  diamonds  between 
Maxwell  &  Armstrong!'    Now  that  is  clearly  in- 

142 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        143 

competent.  The  firm  of  Maxwell  &  Armstrong  has 
not  been  connected  with  the  claimant, ' '  commented 
Mr.  Murphy. 

Judge  Brown  interrupted  at  this  stage  and  said : 
''It  would  be  alone,  undoubtedly.  They  say  they 
expect  to  show  that  the  payment  for  it  went  di- 
rectly to  Lasar.  That  is  the  only  ground  on  which 
I  can  receive  it.  If  he  states  that,  was  it  not  a 
transaction  with  Lasar!" 

''Yes,"  admitted  Mr.  Murphy,  "but  that  does 
not  connect  it  with  this  case.  Non  constat  Max- 
well «fe  Armstrong  may  have  guilty  goods  of  some 
one  else.  That  does  not  bind  us.  It  strikes  me 
that  they  have  got  to  confine  their  evidence  to 
these  alleged  smuggled  goods.  They  cannot  trav- 
erse over  the  market.  If  you  go  into  evidence  it 
opens  quite  a  wide  field." 

Mr.  Wellington  replied  to  this  by  saying:  "In 
the  first  place  we  will  show  that  some  of  the  dia- 
monds seized  and  now  held  by  these  parties  were 
offered  for  sale  by  Maxwell  and  identified  as  such. 
We  propose  to  show  that  immediately  after  the 
arrival  of  these  parties  and  of  these  stones  that 
we  have  shown  in  Canada  they  were  offered  by  the 
agent  of  this  man  Lasar  at  prices  that  honestly 
imported  diamonds  could  not  be  introduced  into 
the  market;  that  these  very  stones  thus  offered 
and  sold  by  Maxwell  were  paid  for  to  Lasar  and 
the  payment  acknowledged  by  him  at  these  prices, 
and  that  the  legal  inference  and  presumption  that 


14-1:  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

arises  when  stones  are  offered  at  such  value  and 
the  contemporaneous  circumstances  are  such  that 
the  jury  and  Your  Honor  will  have  the  right  to 
presume  that  they  were  thus  introduced.  Further 
than  that,  that  this  man  Maxwell  was  the  man  in, 
possession  of  the  property,  or  semi-possession  of 
the  very  property  seized,  and  that  some  of  these 
diamonds,  the  same  numbers  and  characters  that 
were  seized  and  that  were  shipped  from  the  other 
side,  were  the  stones  offered  by  him  to  various 
merchants.  We  can  only  do  it  step  by  step,  and 
one  link  in  the  chain  of  evidence  is  this  offer  for 
sale  and  this  payment  to  Lasar." 

Judge  Brown  said:  ^'I  must  assume  that  the 
proof  of  the  relation  between  parties  circum- 
stanced as  the  claimant  and  those  who  may  have 
been  with  him  is  not  always  the  most  easy, and  that 
any  evidence  which  has  a  bearing  to  show  a  rela- 
tion between  them  is  competent  for  showing  the 
relation,  whether  of  agency  or  whatever  it  may 
be. 

''I  assume  that  Maxwell  &  Armstrong  would  not 
be  very  willing  witnesses  if  they  were  called  here. 
The  Government  is  not  bound  to  put  them  on  the 
stand  as  the  only  way  by  which  the  relation  be- 
tween them  and  Lasnr,  if  there  be  any,  can  be 
proven.    I  do  not  think  I  can  exclude  it." 

The  witness  was  called  upon  to  identify  a  check 
drawn  in  payment  of  the  purchase  from  Maxwell. 
The  check  was  made  out  to  the  order  of  M.  J, 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        145 

Lasar.  He  said  that  it  was  the  check  he  had  sent 
to  pay  for  the  purchase.  He  likewise  identified 
a  bill  or  statement  of  the  amount  of  the  purchase 
which  had  come  back  to  him  receipted  with  the 
signature  of  Lasar.  To  the  question  as  to  why  he 
had  made  out  the  check  to  Mr.  Lasar,  the  witness 
answered  that  it  was  because  Lasar  was  the  seller 
of  the  goods.  Mr.  Wellington  then  asked  the  fol- 
lowing pertinent  questions,  which,  with  the  an- 
swers, must  be  given  to  show  that  Lasar  had  en- 
gaged in  this  final  end  of  his  dishonest  transac- 
tion: 

''How  many  brilliants  did  you  buy  at  the  time 
of  this  purchase  from  Mr.  Maxwell  or  through  Mr. 
Maxwell?" 

"Ninety-four  brilliants." 

** What  description  of  diamonds  were  they!  Can 
you  tell  the  color  and  size  1 ' ' 

''They  were  what  are  called  light  two-grainers 
in  the  trade.  A  quantity  of  diamonds  were  exhib- 
ited to  me.  I  should  imagine  they  represented  a 
value  anywhere  from  fifty  thousand  dollars  to  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  Generally  the  stones 
I  saw  were  very  small  stones,  very  large  stones, 
very  imperfect  stones,  slightly  imperfect  stones, 
perfect  stones  or  nearly  perfect  stones,  yellow, 
brown  and  blue-white.  The  stones  I  bought  were 
obtained  by  me  for  thirty-seven  dollars  per  carat. ' ' 

Following  a  long  wrangle  as  to  the  question  of 
the  witness  being  competent  to  decide  upon  the 


14G   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

value  of  diamonds,  considering  the  market's  fluc- 
tuations, the  court  decided  that  he  was  qualified 
to  answer. 

"What  was  the  value  of  these  diamonds  in  this 
market,  duty  jjaid,  in  your  judgment,  per  carat?" 

"My  opinion  at  the  time  was  that  with  the  pay- 
ment of  duties  they  would  cost  about  that  price  to 
lay  down  here.  From  information  we  had  at  that 
time  I  should  judge  that  it  would  have  been  about 
our  cost  if  we  had  paid  duty  on  the  goods." 

This  conveyed  the  inference  that  the  goods,  if 
duty  had  been  jDaid,  could  not  have  been  sold  with 
profit  at  thirty-seven  dollars  the  carat. 

* '  Did  you  ever  again  see  any  of  the  goods  which 
Maxwell  showed  to  you  and  which  you  did  not  pur- 
chase?" 

"Yes,  at  the  Collector's  office  in  the  Custom 
House.  I  recognized  two  small  papers  which  I 
had  examined  very  carefully  when  they  were 
shown  to  me  by  Mr.  Maxwell." 

"When  Maxwell  offered  you  these  diamonds  for 
sale  what  did  he  say  to  you  about  these  dia- 
monds?" 

The  diamond  merchant  was  about  to  answer, 
when  counsel  for  Lasar  raised  an  objection  on  the 
ground  that  no  connection  had  been  established 
between  Maxwell  and  Lasar.    The  court  said : 

"I  think  there  is  an  association  established  be- 
tween the  diamonds  purchased  and  the  lots  seized. 
It  is  sufficient,  as  resi3ects  these  diamonds,  to  ad- 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        147 

mit  the  conversation  of  the  witness  with  the  man 
who  had  possession  of  them  at  the  time  when  they 
were  shown  and  when  the  sale  was  made.  The 
possession  and  handling  of  the  goods  is  presmned 
to  be  with  the  consent  of  anybody  that  comes  in 
as  claimant,  and  that  presumption  holds  until 
there  is  some  contrary  evidence. 

"You  may  show  that  these  goods  were  surrep- 
titiously obtained  by  Maxwell — that  they  were 
stolen.  Until  something  of  the  kind  is  shown  the 
presumption  is  that  the  person  having  possession 
of  the  i^roperty  has  them  with  the  consent  of  the 
owner.  Such  person's  conversation  and  acts  are 
a  part  of  res  gestce  and  are  admitted." 

This  decision  admitted  the  original  question  as 
to  what  Maxwell  had  said  as  to  the  ownership  of 
the  goods  at  the  time  of  the  sale.  The  witness  an- 
swered as  follows : 

"Mr.  Maxwell  said  he  was  very  anxious  to  sell 
me  some  goods,  as  ]\rr,  Lasar  had  quite  some  goods 
on  hand.  Maxwell  said  that  he  intended  to  leave 
Lasar  about  December  1  to  go  into  business  for 
himself,  and  that  Mr.  Lasar  had  asked  him  to  dis- 
pose of  as  many  of  these  goods  as  jDOSsible  before 
he  left,  as  he  was  a  very  good  salesman  and  could 
sell  more  goods  than  Mr.  Lasar.  There  was  no 
talk  of  ownership.  He  simply  said  that  he  was 
selling  these  goods  for  Mr.  Lasar. ' ' 

' '  I  renew  my  offer  of  these  two  diamond  wrap- 
per papers  as  a  part  of  the  transaction,  as  com- 


148   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

petent  as  merging  into  the  sale,"  announced  Mr. 
Wellington. 

''We  renew  our  objection,"  said  Mr.  Crane. 

The  court  made  the  following  decision  regard- 
ing the  two  papers : 

' '  I  will  receive  them.  I  will  receive  all  of  theso 
papers  except  the  signature  of  Mr.  Lasar,  for 
nothing  more  than  as  showing  that  these  papers 
passed  between  the  parties  in  this  dealing  with 
reference  to  these  diamonds.  Therefore  they  do 
not  operate  as  a  receipt.  The  signature  of  Lasar 
is  not  received  in  evidence.  That  leaves  it  open 
to  the  jury,  if  they  should  act  upon  them,  to  say 
that  the  signature  is  not  that  of  Lasar.  That  is  a 
possibility." 

' '  I  think  we  ought  to  interpose  the  objection  to 
the  check,  particularly  on  the  ground  that  the 
paper  is  not  complete,"  said  Mr.  Crane.  "It  ap- 
pears something  is  torn  away  from  it — the  signa- 
ture, I  suppose.  If  it  is  to  go  in  evidence,  that  is 
an  objection  I  want  specially  noted  on  the  min- 
utes." 

"Mr.  ,"  said  Mr.  Wellington,  "this  paper 

seems  to  have  some  marks  of  cancellation  at  the 
bottom.    Can  you  explain  that?" 

"When  our  checks  are  returned  from  the  bank, 
after  they  are  looked  over  we  generally  cut  off  the 
signature.  In  the  ordinary  course  of  business  I 
suppose  it  was  done  in  that  way.  The  name  of  our 
firm  was  originally  on  the  check,  and  that  was  the 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        149 

name  in  which  the  bill  was  rendered.  The  check 
will  show  that  we  got  a  deduction  of  four  per  cent, 
on  that  bill  of  goods." 

Mr.  Crane  then  took  the  witness  in  hand  for  his 
cross-examination,  and  these  interesting  facts 
came  out: 

*'You  have  had  considerable  business  dealings 
with  Mr.  Lasar  in  years  past,  haven't  you?" 

"I  have  not." 

' '  Did  you  ever  sell  any  of  your  goods  at  cost  ? ' ' 

''Possibly." 

' '  So  that  there  was  nothing  extraordinary  in  the 
fact  of  your  making  a  purchase  from  Lasar,  know- 
ing that  he  was  in  the  trade?" 

""Well,  if  we  were  to  sell  goods  at  the  cost,  it 
would  be  goods  that  were  not  staple.  These  goods 
were  staple  goods." 

''That  is  not  the  question  I  asked  you.  I  asked 
if  there  was  anything  extraordinary  in  your  buy- 
ing a  bill  of  goods  from  Lasar.  I  move  to  strike 
the  answer  out  as  not  responsive. ' ' 

"I  think  it  is,"  said  the  court. 

"The  goods  you  saw  in  the  Appraiser's  office 
you  say  you  recognized  ? ' ' 

"Yes.  They  were  a  peculiar  class  of  goods  not 
very  often  seen  in  the  market,  of  this  color.  They 
were  very  finely  cut." 

"You  have  seen  other  goods  of  the  same  kind 
in  the  market  before,  haven't  you?" 

"I  have  very  seldom  seen  this  class  of  goods 


150   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

the  same  as  the  two  papers  were,  as  finely  cut  and 
as  clean  and  as  perfect  as  these  two  papers  were.'* 

' '  Have  you  ever  seen  goods  of  the  same  kind  ? ' ' 

'*No,  I  cannot  remember  that  I  have  seen  any 
goods  just  of  this  description.  They  were  of  a 
very,  very  light  brown  and  they  were  cut  very 
fine.  They  were  very  shallow  and  the  stones  were 
perfect,  and  I  examined  them  very  closely  at  my 
office,  especially  as  Mr.  Maxwell  had  told  me  that 
some  other  firm  had  made  some  offers  on  them, 
and  I  liked  the  goods,  and  so  I  examined  them 
very  closely." 

''Will  you  swear  positively  that  the  goods  which 
you  saw  in  the  Appraiser's  office  were  the  same 
whicli  you  were  shown  at  the  time  of  the  pur- 
chase ? ' ' 

"I  can  correctly  and  conscientiously  swear  that 
these  goods  were,  in  my  opinion,  the  same. ' ' 

The  witness  was  then  turned  over  to  Mr.  Wel- 
lington for  re-direct  examination,  and  he  was 
asked  by  that  lawyer  how  the  goods  were  exhib- 
ited to  him  by  Mr,  Maxwell.  He  said  that  they 
were  contained  in  two  black  wallets,  and  upon 
being  shown  the  wallets  taken  from  Lasar's  safe 
at  the  time  of  the  seizure  and  asked  if  the  wallets 
shown  to  him  were  like  the  ones  then  exhibited,  he 
replied  that  they  were  similar.  They  were  ordi- 
nary diamond  dealers'  wallets,  he  added,  but  he 
was  unable  to  swear  that  the  wallets  shown  him 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        151 

in  court  were  the  identical  ones  he  saw  when  in 
the  company  of  Maxwell. 

To  establish  the  fact  that  the  diamonds  seized 
from  Lasar  were  worth  a  certain  sum  of  money, 
and  were  the  identical  stones  that  he  appraised 
to  get  this  value,  the  Government  produced  on  the 
stand  the  late  Gen.  George  W.  Mindil,  an  ex- 
aminer of  precious  stones  at  the  Public  Stores. 
Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  Mindil  had  spent 
more  than  twenty-five  years  in  the  trade,  both  as 
proprietor  of  a  large  establishment  and  as  an  em- 
l^loyee  of  the  Government  as  an  expert  of  dia- 
monds, the  counsel  for  the  claimant  dug  up  all 
sorts  of  supposititious  eases  to  try  to  make  it  ap- 
pear that  the  aged  expert  did  not  know  any  too 
much  about  precious  stones.  In  this  case  Mr. 
Lasar 's  lawyer  failed,  for  the  reason  that  Mindil 
was  a  peer  in  his  own  line  of  work  and  had  few 
equals  in  the  world.  Mr.  Danby  conducted  the 
inquiry  for  the  Government.  The  witness  said 
that  he  remembered  distinctly  making  an  examina- 
tion of  the  diamonds  claimed  by  Mr.  Lasar,  and 
that  following  the  examination  he  made  a  report 
to  tlie  Collector  of  the  Port  on  December  11,  1897. 
The  examination  took  place  at  his  office  in  the 
Public  Stores,  and  he  figured  it  out  that  the  for- 
eign value  of  the  diamonds  claimed  by  Lasar  was 
$52,712.18,  to  which  would  have  to  be  added  ten 
per  cent,  for  duty,  if  paid.  He  examined  fifty 
packages  of  diamonds,  the  witness  said,  and  he 


152   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

filed  papers  as  to  the  value  of  each  package  and 
the  weight  of  the  same. 

There  were  other  precious  stones,  consisting  of 
rubies,  opals,  sapphires  and  emeralds,  in  the  pack- 
ages, and  he  recalled  from  memory  that  the  opals 
numbered  eighty-two.  In  his  statement  of  the  ap- 
praisement he  devoted  the  first  column  to  the 
numbers  found  upon  the  papers  containing  the 
diamonds.  The  second  column  of  figures  was  given 
over  to  the  weights  marked  upon  the  same  papers, 
and  these  weights  were  verified  by  actual  weight 
on  the  scales.  The  third  and  last  column  in  his 
statement  to  the  Collector  contained,  the  witness 
said,  the  figures  per  carat  as  he  estimated  their 
value  and  the  sum  total.  All  the  diamonds  were 
cut,  but  unset.  The  whole  was  a  very  fair  lot  of 
goods,  such  as  are  commercially  in  the  market  at 
all  times. 

General  Wellington  then  asked  the  witness :  * '  At 
the  time  you  made  the  examination  and  drew  up 
a  rough  memorandum  from  which  your  official 
statement  was  made,  you  carefully  noted  in  your 
rough  memorandum  the  particulars  as  appear 
here,  and  you  afterwards  compared  them  your- 
self?" 

''Yes,"  said  General  Mindil.  "In  addition  I 
weighed  the  stones  myself,  in  the  presence  of  Mr. 
Lasar  and  an  expert  he  brought  along,  so  that 
there  would  be  no  trouble  as  to  the  agreement  of 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        153 

prices  and  weights.  I  consider  the  figures  as  set 
forth  by  me  to  be  absolutely  correct." 

Mr.  Daniels  asked  the  witness :  ''Is  it  not  a  fact 
that  in  a  number  of  instances  your  scales  showed 
a  difference  in  weight  in  carats  from  the  weight 
in  carats  as  stated  upon  the  packages,  and  that 
you  accounted  for  it  at  the  time  by  the  fact  that 
the  scales  were  not  alike?" 

"If  there  was  such  a  case,  it  was  a  very  imma- 
terial matter  and  would  not  affect  the  whole  in- 
voice five  dollars, ' '  responded  the  witness. 

"Is  there  not  a  variance  in  diamond  scales'?" 
continued  Mr.  Daniels. 

"I  have  found  in  my  experience  from  day  to 
day — we  pass  through  millions  of  diamonds  a 
month — sometimes  there  is  a  trifling  variation  be- 
tween diamonds  weighed  in  Paris  upon  the  French 
scales  and  those  weighed  in  Amsterdam  upon  the 
Dutch  scales.  Of  course,  we  weigh  by  our  scales 
here." 

"General,  when  you  examined  these  diamonds 
at  the  Custom  House  prior  to  their  being  bonded 
did  you  recognize  any  of  them  as  having  been  ap- 
praised by  you  as  having  been  duly  entered  at  any 
time  before  I"  - 

"That  is  only  a  presumption  on  my  part," 
stated  the  witness. 

"On  cross-examination  I  am  entitled  to  you]- 
presumption,"  sententiously  remarked  Mr.  Dan- 
iels, 


154   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

Mr.  Danby  interposed  an  objection,  but  tlie 
court  allowed  the  question  for  the  time.  Mr.  Dan- 
iels, however,  twisted  the  question  around  to  suit 
his  own  ideas,  and  Mr.  Wellington  objected,  the 
court  ruling  that  the  answer  could  not  be  allowed 
unless  the  counsel  for  the  claimant  showed  that 
the  witness'  presumption  made  some  difference 
in  the  performance  of  his  duty. 

Mr.  Daniels  then  said:  ''No.  I  want  to  show 
that  some  of  these  diamonds  were  duly  and  prop- 
erly entered  at  the  Custom  House  and  that  duty 
was  paid  upon  them.  We  seek  to  bring  out  that 
the  diamonds  were  not  smuggled." 

*'No,"  said  Mr.  Wellington,  ''you  desire  to  do 
nothing  of  the  kind.  What  you  seek  to  show  is 
that  there  are  eleven  or  twelve  numbers  here ;  that 
it  is  conceded  on  the  part  of  the  Government  that 
they,  or  a  portion  of  them,  were  properly  entered 
of  these  seized  numbers.  Now,  there  will  be  no 
controversy  about  that.  We  propose  to  show  that 
ourselves,  and  if  that  is  the  object,  we  can  shorten 
this  argument." 

' '  My  friend  wants  me  to  admit  that  all  but  these 
twelve  numbers  were  smuggled.  I  won't  admit  it, 
because  tliat  is  confessing  guilt.  If  he  wants  to 
make  that  concession,  possibly  I  won't  ask  any- 
thing further." 

"We  are  perfectly  willing  to  concede  that  a 
portion  of  the  twelve  packages  did  come  in  prop- 
erly and  pay  duties.    Some  of  them  we  could  not 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        irjf) 

exactly  identify  or  trace,  and  we  are  of  the  opin- 
ion, and  we  have  assumed,  myself  and  associates, 
that  these  first  eleven  numbers  were  properly  im- 
l)orted.  It  is  an  entirely  distinct  body,  with  distinct 
numbers  separate  from  the  others,  and,  as  far  as 
we  could  find  among  those  seized,  we  deemed  that 
they  were  properly  imported  and  that  they  had 
paid  duty.  The  contents  of  some  of  them  we 
could  not  be  sure  about,  because  they  were  not 
there.    They  had  been  sold  or  disappeared. 

''Here  is  the  entry  of  Maxwell  &  Armstrong, 
which  I  herewith  hand  to  the  court,  and  admit  that 
Nos.  1  to  11  were  duly  entered  and  duties  paid  on 
them.  The  difficulty  that  we  find  in  admitting  the 
whole  eleven  is  that  in  ten  and  eleven  we  do  not 
find  the  corresponding  weights,  values  and  pricen 
among  those  seized.  We  assume  that  those  prob- 
ably had  been  sold  and  were  not  there  when  we 
made  the  seizure.  No  forfeiture  will  be  claimed 
as  to  this  portion." 

Mr.  Daniels  then  put  this  conundrum  to  General 
Mindil : 

"Suppose  a  lot  of  diamonds  of  a  certain  weight 
passed  through  your  hands  as  a  Government  offi- 
cial, then  left  your  hands  and  were  handed  to  you 
again  the  following  day  intact — would  you  be  able 
to  swear  positively  that  it  was  the  same  lot  that 
you  had  handled  the  day  before  ? ' ' 

* '  If  the  number  of  stones  were  the  same,  and  tho 
weight  tallied  exactly,  it  would  be  very  strongly 


156   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

presumiDtive  that  tliey  were  the  same,"  was  the 
answer  of  the  witness. 

"But  yon  would  not  be  able  to  swear  positively, 
would  you,  as  a  fact!"  persisted  the  lawyer  for 
Lasar. 

"No,  I  don't  think  anybody  would — not  where 
it  was  a  large  lot." 

General  Wellington  interposed  and  appealed  to 
the  court,  saying  that  the  lawyer  for  the  claimant 
was  trying  to  make  General  Mindil  his  own  wit- 
ness as  a  general  expert  on  the  question  of  dia- 
monds, whereas  the  Government  had  simply  called 
the  witness  to  show  that  stones  in  certain  papers, 
weighing  certain  amounts,  were  of  certain  values. 
Mr.  Daniels  admitted  that  he  was  making  the  Gen- 
eral his  own  witness,  and  that  he  was  perfectly 
willing  to  assume  the  responsibility,  inasmuch  as 
he  had  great  faith  in  his  ability  as  an  expert.  The 
court  thought  that  the  claimant's  counsel  should 
be  given  some  leeway.  General  Wellington  then 
asked  the  witness : 

' '  Now,  you  say  you  could  not  positively  identify 
the  same  lot,  but  presumptively  if  you  found 
twenty,  thirty  or  forty  brilliants  of  a  peculiar 
shade  or  color  associated  together,  of  a  certain 
"size  and  weight,  did  you  ever  figure  out  mathe- 
matically how  often  exactly  that  color,  weight  and 
association  would  probably  be  put  together  in  the 
transaction  of  business  in  life?" 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        157 

**I  don't  think  ii;  ever  could  be  i3ut  together," 
was  the  reply  of  the  diamond  expert. 

' '  But  does  not  the  presumption  become  a  strong 
one  that,  if  you  find  exactly  the  colors  and  exactly 
the  size,"  insisted  the  United  States  attorney, 
''it  was  the  same  package?  I  mean,  if  you  exam- 
ine to-day,  and  find  an  association  of  diamonds  of 
a  certain  shade  of  color — brown,  blue  or  pure 
white — and  of  exact  weight,  carefully  weighed  by 
diamond  scales,  and  you  run  across  exactly  the 
same  thing  to-morrow,  exactly  the  same  color,  the 
same  number  of  diamonds  and  the  same  weight, 
did  you  ever  figure  out  mathematically  the  proba- 
bilities that  it  was  exactly  the  same  package?" 

' '  No,  I  have  never  figured  it  out. ' ' 

''Is  not  the  presumption  so  strong  that  in  your 
mind  as  an  expert  you  would  say  you  had  no  doubt 
that  they  were  the  same?" 

When  the  court  had  overruled  an  objection  filed 
by  Mr.  Daniels,  the  appraiser  of  diamonds  made 
reply. 

"I  would  not  have  any  doubt  about  it." 

"Still,  it  would  amount  to  a  presumption  only?" 
inquired  Mr.  Daniels  in  his  most  persuasive  voice. 

"It  would  be  so  strong  a  presumption  that  it 
would  amount  in  my  mind  to  a  conviction,"  was 
what  the  witness  said. 

"General  Mindil,"  inquired  the  United  States 
attorney,  "during  your  thirty  years'  experience 
in  the  jewelry  business  and  your  three  years  as 


158   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

examiner  for  the  Government  did  you  ever  see 
two  separate  packages  of  diamonds,  a  collection 
and  association  of  diamonds,  say,  of  thirty  or 
forty  in  number,  that  you  knew  to  be  a  distinct 
association  and  collection  of  purchase,  that  were 
of  exactly  the  same  number  of  diamonds,  the  same 
weight  and  same  packing?" 

*'No,  sir,"  was  the  answer  of  the  witness,  given 
without  the  slightest  hesitation. 

Mr.  Daniels  then  asked  the  expert  on  gems: 
"You  said  that  the  presumption  would  be  so 
strong  in  your  mind,  if  the  package  contained  the 
same  number  and  each  diamond  the  same  weight, 
each  diamond  the  same  shade  of  color  and  each 
diamond  the  same  configuration,  that  it  would 
amount  to  a  conviction.  Is  not  that  simply  saying 
that  if  the  diamonds  are  the  same  they  are  the 
same  ? ' ' 

''Well,"  replied  General  Mindil,  ''I  mean  to 
say  that  if  I  saw  a  lot  of  diamonds  to-day,  com- 
prising forty  stones,  weighing  forty  and  one-quar- 
ter carats,  the  same  size,  color,  the  same  config- 
uration, the  same  polishing,  and  I  saw  that  same 
lot  to-morrow,  I  should  say  it  was  the  same  lot." 

''But  if  there  was  any  change  in  it,  even  of  the 
fraction  of  a  carat,  you  could  not  say  they  were 
the  same,  could  you?" 

"Yes;  there  might  be  an  error  in  the  weight 
from  the  preceding  day." 

"But  assuming  there  is  no  special  mark  or  flaw 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        159 

on  a  diamond  to  call  special  attention  to  it,  is  there 
any  positive  way  of  identifying  it  except  by  mak- 
ing a  plaster  of  paris  cast?" 

''If  it  is  a  perfect  stone  in  every  respect,  there 
might  be  another  stone  very  much  like  it.  You 
could  not  carry  it  in  your  mind  for  a  day  or  two." 

General  Wellington  asked  the  witness :  ' '  The 
Judge  has  been  asking  you  about  the  value  of 
stones.    How  is  that  value  fixed!" 

"By  the  trade,  and  that  depends  upon  the  sup- 
ply and  demand." 

"Is  there  any  particular  locality  or  any  par- 
ticular guild  that  fixes  from  time  to  time,  to  your 
knowledge,  the  value  of  cut  or  polished  dia- 
monds!" 

' '  There  is  not,  as  to  the  general  transactions  in 
them.    With  the  uncut  it  is  different. ' ' 

"Whereis  that  fixed?" 

"Well,  there  is  a  sjmdicate  in  control  of  them, 
practically,  on  the  other  side." 

"Now,  is  it  or  is  it  not  true  that  it  is  about  the 
rarest  thing  in  the  world  to  find  a  pure  and  per- 
fect diamond  that  lias  not  some  distinguishing 
mark  about  it,  or  defect,  if  you  please!" 

"Yes,  they  are  very  rare." 

"These  stones  that  pass  for  perfect  stones,  sold 
as  such,  upon  a  critical  examination  by  an  expert, 
can  they  not  always  point  out  some  speck,  some 
little  jar,  if  you  will,  or  some  trace  that  identifir^r; 


160   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

that  from  any  other  stone  about  the  same  qual- 
ity?" 

"Generally,  but  not  always." 

''How  often  would  you  say,  in  a  purchase  of 
ten  thousand  dollars '  worth  of  so-called  pure  bril- 
liants, you  would  find  among  those — how  many 
would  be  absolutely  perfect,  in  your  experience?" 

"I  could  not  tell  what  proportion  of  them  would 
be  absolutely  perfect.  I  would  not  like  to  say  the 
proportion.  They  might  be  all  perfect.  If  they 
were  selected  by  an  expert,  in  the  first  place,  with 
a  view  to  perfection,  they  might  be  all  perfect. 
I  can  imagine  a  line  of  perfect  diamonds  being 
put  in  front  of  me  by  many  of  our  Maiden  Lane 
houses,  if  they  set  out  to  do  that.  They  would 
know  how  to  do  it,  and  would  select  them  on  a 
large  enough  scale  to  collect  a  certain  number  of 
perfect  stones  and  then  put  them  in  a  paper  to- 
gether, and  they  might  be  an  absolutely  perfect 
set  of  diamonds." 

' '  Did  you  ever  see  such  a  collection  ? " 

''I  don't  think  I  have." 

''And  among  so-called  perfect  stones  being  dealt 
with  in  the  trade,  what  proportion  are  absolutely 
perfect,  or  what  proportion  have  some  marks,  de- 
fects, or  what  would  you  call  those  that  you  saw 
in  the  packages  1 ' ' 

"Flaws  or  feathers.  Taking  the  general  run  of 
the  trade,  I  do  not  think  that  more  than  ten  per 
cent,  of  the  diamonds  sold  are  perfect. ' ' 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        161 

"You  don't  mean  to  swear  to  this  positively?" 
inquired  Mr.  Daniels. 

'*I  was  asked  an  opinion  and  I  gave  it,"  said  the 
witness.  "There  are  other  experts  in  the  room 
who  may  differ  with  me." 

Mr.  Wellington  asked  the  witness :  "  Is  it  true, 
true,  or  is  it  not  true  that  there  are  characteristic 
features  about  diamonds  to  experts  that  are  as 
distinct  and  informing  as  the  chart  characteristic 
features  of  a  flock  of  sheep  to  a  farmer;  that  is,  a 
farmer  could  go  out  and  pick  twenty  sheep,  look 
into  their  faces,  their  size,  weight  and  fineness  of 
their  wool  to-day,  and,  although  they  be  driven 
ten,  twenty  or  thirty  miles,  would  see  that  same 
flock  and  say,  'I  know  that  is  the  same  flock';  and 
he  is  asked,  'Is  it  by  weight?'  and  say,  'No,  not 
exactly.'  'Is  it  exactly  by  the  appearance  or  the 
way  they  walk?'  and  he  would  say,  'Not  exactly, 
but  the  general  characteristics.'  Now,  is  not  the 
diamond  expert  just  as  able  to  determine  and  give 
his  opinion  with  as  much  positiveness  when  he 
finds  certain  associations  of  these  flaws  and  colors 
and  numbers,  as  a  farmer  in  identifying  his  flock, 
in  your  opinion  ? ' ' 

General  Mindil  had  replied  that  such  was  the 
case,  meaning  that,  like  the  farmer,  the  diamond 
expert  would  be  able  to  distinguish  precious  stones 
that  he  had  examined  before,  when  a  howl  of  ob- 
jections filled  the  air.  Judge  Brown  thought  that 
the  witness  was  unable  to  answer  correctly  a  hypo- 


162   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

thetical  case  of  that  kind  unless  he  knew  the  mind 
of  the  farmer  and  he  sustained  the  objection.  The 
next  day,  wlien  the  witness  was  again  on  the  stand, 
he  surprised  the  lawyers  for  Lasar  by  suddenly 
announcing : 

*'I  have  found,  since  I  was  here  yesterday,  the 
original  appraisement,  which  I  thought  was  de- 
stroyed, in  my  own  handwriting." 

This  was  a  blessing  to  the  Government's  case, 
and  Mr.  Danby,  quickly  taking  advantage  of  the 
opp6rtunity,  said: 

"Then  we  will  offer  in  evidence  the  original 
memorandum  made  at  the  time." 

"Wait  a  moment,"  said  Mr.  Daniels,  waving  his 
extended  hand  to  Mr.  Danby.  Then  of  the  witness 
he  inquired :  ' '  Didn  't  you  say  yesterday  that  you 
thought  you  had  destroyed  that  paper?" 

"I  certainly  did,"  replied  General  MindLl ;  "but 
I  found  it,  and  it  is  there.  I  am  glad  of  it,  too, 
because  it  specifies  the  emeralds  and  sapphires 
and  other  stones,  whereas  the  Collector's  report 
refers  only  to  them  as  diamonds  and  precious 
stones." 

"Well,"  concluded  Mr.  Daniels,  with  that  su- 
perior air  he  assumes  when  he  tries  to  win  an 
argument,  ' '  it  does  not  matter  whether  you  found 
it  or  not.  We  object  to  it.  They  cannot  introduce 
it,"  the  latter  opinion  being  addressed  to  the  court. 

"It  is  the  act  of  the  witness,"  remarked  His 
Honor  significantly. 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        163 

*'Do  you  examine  all  the  precious  stones 
brought  into  this  port?"  asked  Mr.  Wellington. 

''I  do,"  said  General  Mindil. 

''Have  you  examined  your  records  to  ascertain 
whether  any  diamonds  imported  by  Max  J.  Lasar 
have  ever  been  submitted  to  you  for  examina- 
tion?" 

"I  have  gone  over  my  record  from  January  2, 
1897,  and  have  found  no  entry  of  Max  J.  Lasar. 
I  have  examined  none  of  his  goods,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  these  in  question." 

' '  Did  you,  upon  the  latter  examination,  find  any 
stones  that  you  recognized,  or  packages  that  you 
recognized  as  having  examined  before?" 

''I  did." 

''What  are  you  trying  to  prove?"  inquired  the 
court. 

"Among  the  fifty  packages  of  diamonds  sub- 
mitted to  him  for  appraisement  at  this  time,"  said 
General  Wellington,  "he  was  able  to  recognize  so 
many  of  them  as  having  been  previously  submit- 
ted to  him  for  appraisal,  as  having  been  imported 
by  Maxwell  &  Armstrong,  and  were  claimed  by 
them  as  such,  and  I  want  to  designate  those  and 
separate  them  from  the  others." 

The  court  nodded  an  approval  of  this  procedure, 
and  Mr.  Wellington  asked  the  witness  if  he  had 
examined  his  records  to  ascertain  if  the  stones 
were  the  same  weight  and  value  as  the  ones  that 


164   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

had  come  in  previously  under  the  Maxwell  &  Arm- 
strong entry.    General  Mindil  answered : 

''The  appraisal  I  made  and  set  upon  them  per 
carat  agreed  almost  identically  with  the  entered 
value  of  the  goods  brought  in  by  Maxwell  &  Arm- 
strong, although  I  think  some  of  the  packages 
were  not  so  full  as  they  were  originally.  Some  had 
been  taken  out." 

''Do  you  assume  that  these  papers  are  the  same, 
or  that  they  have  changed  the  wrappers?"  asked 
Judge  Brown. 

"I  assume  this,"  said  Mr.  Wellington.  "The 
firm  of  Maxwell  &  Armstrong  unported  certain 
diamonds.  They  were  removed  from  the  original 
papers  and  put  into  these  little  packages  and  these 
marks  were  put  upon  them.  But  from  some  of 
these  papers  certain  diamonds  had  been  sold,  so 
that  it  was  almost  impossible  for  us  to  designate 
exactly  which  ones.  AVlien  the  appraiser  was  ap- 
praising them,  Mr.  Murphy  and  Mr.  Lasar  called 
his  attention  to  some  that  had  been  im])orted  by 
Maxwell  &  Armstrong.  The  appraiser,  however, 
found  the  identification  sufficiently  distinct  to  con- 
cede that  they  were  those  which  he  had  appraised 
for  that  firm  on  these  particular  numbers." 

This  brought  Mr.  Murphy  into  the  breach,  who 
said:  "I  would  like  to  state  that  what  General 
Wellington  states  took  place  there  is  not  the  fact. 
We  offered  at  the  time  of  the  appraisement  to 
point  out  many  of  these  packages  upon  which  duty 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        165 

had  been  paid.  Our  offer  to  identify  the  packages 
was  denied,  and  we  were  precluded  from  specify- 
ing any  of  the  packages  that  were  appraised  at  the 
Appraisers'  Stores  by  the  witness  on  the  stand  as 
being  diamonds  that  had  been  imported  and  duty 
paid  upon  them." 

' '  General  Mindil,  will  you  please  state  what  did 
occur  about  letting  the  counsel  and  the  claimant 
here  point  out  any  goods  at  the  Appraisers' 
Stores!"  asked  General  Wellington. 

''The  Collector  was  unusually  generous  in  allow- 
ing them  to  see  anything  in  the  matter  of  appraise- 
ment of  that  kind.  Mr.  Lasar  brought  with  him 
an  expert  in  diamonds,  and  they  examined  paper 
after  paper.  The  expert  practically  agreed  with 
my  valuations.  We  did  not  differ  five  per  cent,  in 
our  valuations.  They  were  not  prevented  from 
seeing  the  diamonds  and  pointing  out.  Now  that  I 
have  my  records  here,  I  do  not  think  that  any  of 
the  fifty  packages  here  in  question  were  regularly 
imported  and  submitted  to  me  last  year. ' ' 

"Does  Your  Honor  hold  that  that  statement  is 
in  evidence  that  these  diamonds  were  not  properly 
entered!"  asked  Mr.  Daniels. 

"Simply  evidence  that  none  has  been  sent  to 
him,  and  he  says  that  there  was  no  other  appraiser 
during  the  period  mentioned,"  ruled  the  court. 


CHAPTEE  VIII 

Although  perfectly  satisfied  with  its  work  of 
establishing  the  fact  that  Lasar  had  imported  the 
diamonds  unlawfully,  the  Government  decided  to 
improve  its  chance  of  winning  by  producing  as 
evidence  the  depositions  of  Isidor  Solomon,  a  dia- 
mond merchant  of  Amsterdam,  Holland,  and  of 
Louis  Neresheimer,  in  the  diamond  trade  in  Lon- 
don, from  whom  the  smuggler  purchased  some  of 
the  goods  in  question  while  on  the  other  side.  That 
of  the  Dutch  merchant  was  taken  before  a  United 
States  commissioner  in  this  country,  while  the 
sworn  statement  of  Neresheimer  was  obtained  at 
the  American  Consulate  in  London. 

The  legal  talent  representing  Lasar  raised  a 
storm  of  protest  against  the  admission  into  the 
l)roceedings  of  these  depositions,  claiming  an  ille- 
gality for  the  whole  thing  on  the  ground  that  they 
were  not  parties  to  the  affair,  so  far  as  being  pres- 
ent when  the  two  men  affirmed  to  the  truth  of  the 
statements.  These  depositions  created  more  occa- 
sion for  discussion  by  both  sides  than  any  other 
single  feature  of  the  case,  but  the  tempest  of  words 
ended  in  the  court  admitting  both  documents. 

166 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        167 

In  Ms  deposition  Solomon  identified  in  one  of 
his  personal  books  a  memorandum  made  on  the 
date  of  a  first  transaction  of  a  sale  of  diamonds  to 
Lasar.  He  likewise  identified  two  paper  wrappers, 
one  of  glazed  paj^er,  on  which  were  certain  figures, 
and  which  he  affirmed  encircled  the  package  of 
diamonds  which  Lasar  purchased  of  him.  The 
court  overruled  the  objections  of  the  claimant's 
lawyers  to  the  introduction  of  both  exhibits.  To 
the  question  in  the  deposition  of  ''What  was  the 
character  of  the  stones  purchased  that  day!"  Mr. 
Crane  interposed  with  an  objection  that  the  de- 
scription of  the  sale  was  not  shown  to  be  the  sale 
of  the  merchandise  claimed  to  be  the  subject  mat- 
ter of  the  proceeding.  The  court  asked  these  per- 
tinent questions : 

''Are  not  these  a  part  of  the  goods  seized?  Do 
not  these  packages  have  their  counterparts  in  the 
report  of  the  Appraiser?" 

Mr.  Crane  said  that  there  was  no  evidence  to 
show  it,  but  Mr.  Wellington  insisted  that  the  Gov- 
ernment had  evidence  to  show  that  the  packages 
mentioned  in  the  deposition  were  in  the  Lasar  safe 
at  the  time  of  the  seizure,  and  that  the  counterparts 
of  them,  which  were  empty,  bore  figures  exactly 
the  same.  The  court  announced  that  it  must  re- 
ceive the  testimony.  The  deposition  stated  that 
the  first  sale  to  Lasar  took  place  on  October  5  and 
was  followed  by  another  on  October  7,  and  by 
others  on  subsequent  dates. 


168   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

When  the  trial  was  resumed  on  the  morning  of 
November  16  Mr.  Murphy  proceeded  ^Yith  his  ar- 
gument in  opposition  to  the  offer  by  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  papers  and  memoranda  taken  from 
the  safe  of  Lasar  on  the  grounds  that  the  papers 
at  the  time  of  the  seizure  did  not  contain  the  prop- 
erty which  the  Government  alleged  was  illegally 
imported.    Judge  Brown  said: 

"The  particular  thing  which  raised  this  ques- 
tion was  objection  to  three  wrappers  attached  to 
this  deposition.  There  are  two  that  are  admitted, 
and  those  two  papers  are  the  ones  which  the  wit- 
ness, Solomon,  testified  were  the  wrappers  that 
contained  certain  diamonds  which  were  among 
those  seized.  These  were  the  wrappers  in  which 
the  diamonds  were  sold,  and  which  passed  to  the 
purcliaser  along  with  the  diamonds,  and  he  identi- 
fies them  partly  by  his  own  marks  on  the  papers 
and  partly  by  the  correspondence  with  his  own 
entry.  It  is  true  that  these  papers  did  not  contain 
the  diamonds  at  the  time  of  the  seizure.  It  is  con- 
ceded that  they  were  taken  from  Lasar 's  safe,  but 
in  a  separate  compartment  from  the  compartment 
in  which  the  diamonds  were  seized. 

"It  is  a  fair  (juestion  to  submit  to  the  jury  that 
finding  the  diamonds  liere  and  the  papers  here  in 
which  they  were  contained  when  bought,  whether 
they  did  not  come  over  togetlier — that  is  to  say, 
transmitted  here — and  that  any  change  in  the 
wrappers  of  the  diamonds,  if  the  jury  believes  the 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        169 

diamonds  were  the  same  lot,  was  a  change  made 
here.  The  act  charged  as  illegal  is  the  illegal  im- 
portation— an  importation  without  consultation, 
without  entry  and  without  pajmient  of  duty.  In 
other  words,  a  smuggling  operation,  which  was 
intended  to  be  so  from  the  very  beginning.  That 
is  what  is  charged.  They  did  not  consularize  or 
invoice  them,  because  they  meant  to  smuggle  them, 
and  they  did  smuggle  them,  because  they  entered 
clandestinely  and  without  entry.  That  is  the 
charge. 

"Now,  these  papers  are  of  some  value — great 
value,  possibly,  as  evidence  of  identification.  I 
could  not  decide  this  question  on  a  mere  decision 
that  books  and  papers  possible  in  certain  circum- 
stances might  not  be  seized,  without  also  saying 
that,  however  intimately  these  particular  papers 
might  be  connected  with  the  illegal  act,  just  simply 
because  they  were  evidence  they  should  not  be 
received.  Now,  it  is  impossible,  I  think,  to  sustain 
a  position  like  that.  If  the  act  is  illegal,  and  you 
trace  it  and  all  that  belongs  to  it  in  its  history,  you 
certainly  cannot  say  that  because  some  of  the  inci- 
dents of  that  act  furnish  evidence  against  the 
goods,  or  the  claimant,  that  therefore  they  have 
got  to  be  excluded.  That  would  be  preposterous. 
In  that  way  you  could  never  prove  a  case,  because 
you  would  shut  out  the  evidence  which  would 
jn-ove  it. 

"That  is  a  very  different  thing  from  matters 


170    DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

Tvliicli  are  not  themselves  any  part  of  the  illegal 
act,  but  which  are  mere  matters  of  evidence,  which 
are  discoverable  in  a  man's  house,  in  his  store, 
desk  or  files  of  papers,  so  that  they  can't  be  used 
for  a  similar  purpose.  That  is  a  very  different 
question.  A  man's  house  may  be  his  castle.  His 
l^rivate  papers,  whether  in  his  house  or  store,  are 
free  by  the  Constitution  from  unreasonable  search 
and  seizure.  He  cannot  be  compelled  to  give  evi- 
dence against  himself. 

"Therefore,  if  you  are  pursuing  mere  evidence, 
and  are  trying  to  compel  him  to  produce  some- 
thing which  you  have  not  got,  you  may  be  limited. 
Simply  because  you  happen  to  be  there,  you  can- 
not turn  around  and  rummage  his  desk,  take  his 
books,  his  files  of  papers  and  letters,  and  hunt 
them  over,  and  if  you  can  find  anything,  appro- 
priate it  and  have  it  here  and  give  it  in  evidence. 

"A  letter  written  by  a  man  recounting  a  past 
transaction  would  be  evidence  against  him  if  you 
could  get  it  rightly,  or  other  correspondence,  or 
his  own  books  in  which  he  has  entered  these  very 
things,  or  data  which  would  be  very  valuable  to 
the  Government  if  they  could  get  it  rightly,  but 
in  no  way  connected  with  the  legal  ini])()rtation, 
with  the  purchase  of  the  goods,  with  the  failure  to 
consularize,  or  with  the  act  of  smuggling  and  get- 
ting them  into  his  possession  and  not  entering 
them.  I  think  I  ought  to  admit  those  things  which 
are  part  of  the  illegal  act  itself." 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        171 

To  the  admission  of  the  memorandum  book  of 
Witness  Solomon,  Mr.  Murphy,  for  the  claimant, 
formed  a  number  of  objections.  He  insisted  that 
the  witness  having  stated  that  the  book  was  not 
an  accurate  memorandum  of  his  transactions,  and 
not  being  made  on  October  5,  7  and  8,  the  dates  of 
the  alleged  transaction,  it  was  not  a  record  kept 
in  the  regular  course  of  business  and  should  not 
be  admitted.  It  was  rather  a  book  of  convenience, 
and  contained  notes  or  memoranda  of  certain  sales 
jotted  down  at  certain  times  that  might  be  a  day 
or  two  after  the  sales  were  made.  In  answer  to 
these  claims  the  court  said: 

' '  The  witness  knows  about  the  sales,  but  for  the 
details  he  relies  on  this  book.  In  regard  to  this 
not  being  a  book  of  account,  it  is  like  my  pocket- 
book  would  be,  containing  the  entry  of  figures  in 
precise  detail.  If  they  swear  that  it  was  made  at 
or  about  the  time,  say,  it  is  correct,  and  their  oath 
is  connected  with  it,  it  is  allowed  to  go  in  evidence 
ex  necessitate.  On  such  a  point  what  better  proof 
could  be  obtainable?  It  was  not  made  in  the  pres- 
ence of  Max  J.  Lasar,  it  is  true,  and  you  are  not 
bound  by  it  any  more  than  you  are  by  any  other 
piece  of  evidence.  Tlie  jury  may  reject  the  whole 
if  it  wishes.  The  jury  is  to  consider  what  the  wit- 
ness has  said  about  it." 

While  the  deposition  of  Mr,  Neresheimer  was 
being  read,  Mr.  Denby  offered  in  evidence  an 
invoice  of  November  3,  1897,  under  the  name  of 


172   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

Maxwell  &  Armstrong,  together  with  the  declara- 
tion covering  one  box  of  diamonds,  not  set,  in- 
voiced at  168,613  francs  and  38  centimes,  under 
consular  invoice  1078  from  Antwerp,  October  22, 
1897.  This  related  to  one  transaction,  the  ship- 
per abroad  being  Joseph  Rester.  The  invoice  con- 
tained eleven  entries,  described  as  brilliants  and 
melles  (small  diamonds),  and  the  counsel  for 
Lasar  tried  to  make  it  appear  that  the  Gov- 
ernment had  admitted  that  the  eleven  packages 
of  gems  protected  by  the  invoice  had  been 
illegally  seized.  Mr.  Wellington  straightened 
out  the  matter  by  saying  that  the  Govern- 
ment had  found  six  of  the  entries  of  the  invoice 
when  the  diamonds  were  seized  from  Lasar 's  safe, 
and  of  these  six  the  Government  admitted  that 
duty  on  them  had  been  paid.  The  others  had  dis- 
appeared and  were  presumably  sold. 

It  was  William  H.  McCormack,  spoken  of  else- 
where in  this  book,  who  went  to  England  to  get  the 
deposition  of  Neresheimer.  McCormack  took  with 
him  on  this  trip  two  packages  containing  dia- 
monds and  a  separate  wrapj^er,  all  of  which  Neres- 
heimer identified,  the  first-named  as  having  been 
sold  to  Lasar  by  him  and  the  paper  as  having  cov- 
ered the  purchased  goods.  McCormack  made  the 
mistake  of  being  present  in  the  American  Con- 
sulate in  London  when,  on  May  4,  1898,  the  depo- 
sition of  Neresheimer  was  taken.  When  the  dia- 
monds were  being  prepared  by  Collector  of  the 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        173 

Port  Bidwell  for  transmission  abroad  by  McCor- 
mack,  so  that  Neresheimer  might  see  them,  they 
were  carefully  sealed  up  with  the  wrapper,  so  that 
there  could  be  no  tampering  with  them  or  any 
such  charges  made.  The  diamonds  when  they 
started  abroad  with  McCormack  were  in  the  con- 
dition that  marked  them  at  the  time  of  the  seizure, 
and  they  were  opened  by  Neresheimer  himself. 
The  stones  were  worth  forty-five  hundred  dollars. 

Notwithstanding  the  absolute  certainty  that  the 
package  entrusted  to  the  care  of  McCormack,  who 
was  a  special  employee  of  the  Treasury  Depart- 
ment, was  in  no  way  meddled  with  during  tlie  trip 
gr  until  it  reached  the  English  witness'  hands,  the 
counsel  for  Lasar  filed  an  acre  of  protests  against 
the  admission  as  evidence  of  the  wrap]:)er. 

Mr.  Daniels  insisted  that  he  knew  of  no  practice 
of  law  which  permitted  an  exhibit  to  be  detached 
from  a  commission  and  brought  over  and  intro- 
duced in  evidence  through  collateral  evidence  of 
an  independent  witness.  The  wrapper,  he  con- 
tended, was  not  marked  by  the  commissioner  who 
took  the  deposition  of  Neresheimer,  nor  was  it 
marked  by  the  witness  in  any  shape  or  form.  It 
was  utterly  impossible  to  determine  from  the  com- 
mission what  wrapper  was  referred  to,  except  that 
it  was  a  wrapper  having  the  design  of  a  mask  and. 
a  seal  ring.  The  wra})per  could  not  be  introduced, 
because  it  was  not  identified. 

At  great  length  Mr.  Daniels  argued,  even  saying 


174   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

that  there  might  have  been  a  substitution  if  found 
necessary,  but  his  chief  claim  against  the  admis- 
sion of  the  wrapper  was  that  he  would  have  no 
opportunity  to  cross-examine  Mr.  Nereslieimer. 
The  court  said,  in  reply  to  the  lawyer's  plea: 

*' There  is  no  doubt  the  way  you  suggest  is  the 
usual  form.  The  only  way  to  prove  such  a  paper 
as  this,  or  its  contents,  would  be  to  annex  it  to  the 
deposition,  have  it  sent  over,  examined  there, 
sealed  up,  and  still  annexed  to  the  deposition,  and 
returned  in  that  way.  The  only  question,  how- 
ever, is,  does  the  law  prohibit  any  other  possible 
way  in  the  case  of  valuables,  like  diamonds,  which 
would  suffer  certainly  a  rather  serious  exposure, 
supposing  them  to  be  of  value  ? 

"The  witness  says  they  were  of  the  value  of 
about  forty-five  hundred  dollars — the  foreign 
value.  Is  it  true  that  the  law  allows  no  way  of 
proving  that  excej^t  by  annexing  it  to  a  commis- 
sion? I  differ  with  you  in  my  judgment  regard- 
ing the  desirability  of  sending  forty-five  hundred 
or  five  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  diamonds  at- 
tached to  a  commission.  I  should  consider  that 
very  risky,  if  anj^  other  way  were  allowable  by 
law. 

''I  think  this  testimony  should  be  received. 
Every  dei^osition  and  all  papers  attached  in  reg- 
ular way  are  liable  to  possibilities  of  fraud  and 
substitution.  I  do  not  know  of  any  rule  which  ac- 
tually requires  that  the  package  shall  be  annexed 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        175 

to  the  answer.  The  only  question,  after  all,  is  one 
of  preserving  the  rights  of  the  parties  by  prevent- 
ing the  substitution  of  one  thing  for  another. 

'*I  understand  from  counsel,  besides  the  testi- 
mony of  the  witness,  Neresheimer,  which  stands 
as  any  other  witness  in  a  cause  stands  testifying 
to  a  fact,  as  the  authority  for  the  truth  of  the 
statement,  besides  his  testimony  there  is  addi- 
tional testimony  or  circumstances  referred  to  by 
counsel  for  the  Government  that  they  propose  to 
show  that  pains  have  been  taken  to  prevent  any 
substitution  or  improper  meddling  with  the 
Ijapers. 

''I  think  those  are  reasonable,  and  it  seems  to 
me  there  is  no  such  unreasonableness  in  the 
course  as  should  condemn  it,  unless  it  appears  to 
have  been  condemned  by  authority  which  I  am 
bound  to  follow.  For  the  purpose  of  this  case, 
therefore,  I  think  I  should  admit  this  testimony." 

McCormack  explained  that  the  wrapper  and  dia- 
monds were  handed  to  him  on  April  19,  1898 ;  that 
the  diamonds,  after  he  had  counted  them  to  see 
that  the  right  number  were  there,  were  sealed  in 
an  envelope,  and  ''have  not  left  my  possession 
from  that  day  to  this,"  as  he  explained  it.  Mc- 
Cormack added  under  oath  that  he  i3laced  the  en- 
veloped diamonds  with  the  wrapper  in  another 
and  larger  envelope,  which  was  in  turn  sealed  up 
by  Henry  Small,  the  secretary  for  Collector  Bid- 
well.    Neresheimer,  according  to  McCormack,  was 


176   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

handed  the  sealed  envelope  at  the  American  Con- 
snlate  in  London,  and  the  English  witness  had  the 
property  in  his  possession  while  making  the  an- 
swers to  the  interrogatories  on  the  deposition. 
Neresheimer  opened  the  envelope  containing  the 
diamonds  and  placed  them  on  a  desk  in  front  of 
him  while  the  officials  of  the  Consulate  were  ask- 
ing him  the  necessary  questions  about  them. 

The  special  agent  told  at  length  of  the  many 
marks  which  were  on  the  wrapper  when  he  handed 
it  to  Neresheimer,  and  added  that  the  London  dia- 
mond dealer  identified  each  and  every  one  of  these 
marks  and  attested  to  the  fact  in  his  deposition. 
William  M.  Osborne  was  the  commissioner,  and 
he,  too,  affixed  his  seal  and  attested  to  Neresheim- 
er's  signature  as  to  the  truth  of  the  document.  Mr. 
Neresheimer  put  his  seal  on  the  envelope  contain- 
ing the  diamonds  when  he  lianded  them  back  to 
McCormack  to  bring  back  to  this  country. 

Mr.  Wellington  asked  that  the  envelope  contain- 
ing the  diamonds  be  opened  while  McCormack  was 
on  the  stand  testifying,  but  the  court  said  that  it 
was  unnecessary;  that  the  envelope  might  remain 
sealed  and  kept  in  court  for  examination  if  any- 
body so  desired.  At  this  point  Mr.  Daniels  re- 
newed his  motion  to  strike  out  the  deposition  of 
Neresheimer  on  the  ground  that  McCormack  was 
present  while  it  was  being  taken,  and  that  the  spe- 
cial agent  took  an  active  part  in  it,  contrary  to 
law;  that  Commissioner  Osborne  was  not  present 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        177 

at  the  taking  of  the  deposition,  but  was  repre- 
sented by  the  vice-consul,  Mr.  Frigout;and  tliat 
the  claimant's  counsel  were  taken  by  surprise  on 
the  evidence  of  Neresheimer. 

The  court  thought  it  peculiar  that  Commissioner 
Osborne  should  have  placed  his  seal  upon  the  pa- 
pers in  question  without  once  being  present,  and 
so  told  the  Government  lawj^ers.  His  Honor  also 
pointed  out  that  McCormack  was  the  Govern- 
ment's witness  and  that  his  statement  made  the 
situation  the  more  acute.  To  question  the  special 
agent  more  fully  on  this  important  matter  he  was 
recalled  to  the  stand  later  in  the  trial.  McCor- 
mack stated  on  this  occasion  that  the  Commis- 
sioner, so  far  as  he  knew,  had  administered  no 
oath  to  Neresheimer,  but  that  the  papers  were  out 
of  his  possession  for  three  days,  and  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Commissioner,  he  presumed.  The  court 
admitted  the  Neresheimer  deposition,  neverthe- 
less. 


CHAPTER  IX 

The  Government  produced  a  number  of  wit- 
nesses to  corroborate  Miss  Cruede  in  her  narrative 
as  to  Lasar's  trip  in  the  Labrador,  his  presence  in 
Canada,  and  also  the  advent  of  his  sister-in-law  in 
Montreal,  none  of  which  the  lawyers  for  the  smug- 
gler would  admit.  One  of  the  first  of  these  witnesses 
was  Thomas  Henry  Nuttall,  a  steward  of  the 
Labrador,  who  identified  Lasar  in  court  as  one  of 
the  passengers  of  the  Labrador  during  October- 
November,  1897.  The  steward  said  that  Lasar  was 
known  to  him  as  M.  J.  Lanas,  and  this  name,  sup- 
posed to  be  his,  appeared  on  the  ship's  list  of  pas- 
sengers, one  of  which  he  x^ersonally  handed  to 
Lasar  at  the  beginning  of  the  trip.  Nuttall  like- 
wise identified  Miss  Cruede  as  having  been  the 
room  companion  of  Lasar  during  the  voyage.  The 
claimant's  counsel  endeavored  to  show  that  mis- 
spellings in  passenger  lists  were  quite  frequent, 
whereas  they  are  not.  The  object  was  to  try  to 
show  that  Lasar  did  not  cross  in  the  Labrador 
under  an  assumed  name,  or,  rather,  that  he  j^er- 
sonally  did  not  desire  to.  Nuttall  settled  that 
point  for  good,  however,  by  relating  how  he,  as 

178 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        179 

steward  for  Lasar,  constantly  called  and  ad- 
dressed him  as  "Mr.  Lanas"  during  the  trip,  and 
that  Lasar  never  contradicted  him. 

To  satisfy  the  jury  that  it  was  Mrs.  Morris 
Lasar  who  was  in  Montreal  about  the  time  her 
brother-in-law,  the  smuggler,  arrived  there  in  the 
company  of  Ivy  Cruede,  the  Government  called 
George  Phillips,  a  clerk  in  the  Windsor  Hotel,  of 
that  city,  to  the  stand.  He  was  asked  if  he  recalled 
the  fact  that  a  woman  arrived  at  the  hotel  on  No- 
vember 6,  1897,  and  registered  as  Mrs.  S.  Smith, 
of  Brooklyn.  He  said  he  remembered  it  distinctly 
and  that  he  assigned  her  to  room  337.  He  was 
asked  if  he  saw  anywhere  in  the  courtroom  a 
woman  who  answered  to  the  description  of  Mrs. 
Smith.  He  rei3lied  that  "the  woman  dressed  in 
black,  sitting  over  there, ' '  was  Mrs.  Smith.  Then 
a  sensational  scene  took  place. 

Mr.  Wellington,  addressing  himself  to  counsel 
for  Lasar,  asked  if  they  had  any  objection  to  hav- 
ing Mrs.  Morris  Lasar  stand  up  for  identification. 
Mr.  Crane  retorted : 

"W^e  do.  We  decidedly  object  to  the  lady  being 
compelled  to  stand." 

"I  ask  the  ladj^  there  with  the  black  hair  and 
veil  to  stand  up,"  requested  Mr.  Wellington. 

The  woman  indicated  was  seated  with  three  oth- 
ers, but  declined  to  budge.    The  court  then  said : 

"General  Wellington,  if  they  do  not  wish  to 
make  any  admission  as  to  the  identity  of  the  per- 


180   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

son  registering  as  i\[rs.  S.  Smith,  let  the  witness 
go  right  over  and  point  her  out  more  carefully.  I 
notice  that  there  are  more  ladies  sitting  over 
there." 

Witness  Phillips  left  the  stand  and,  walking 
down  among  the  lawyers  and  others  gathered  in 
the  body  of  the  court,  halted  in  front  of  Mrs.  Sarah 
Lasar  and  said : 

"This  is  the  lady." 

The  silence  was  most  impressive  and  the  scene 
altogether  very  dramatic.  The  hotel  clerk  then 
returned  to  the  witness  chair  as  the  learned  Judge 
asked  Lasar 's  counsel: 

"Is  that  sufficient  indication  of  the  person  indi- 
cated?" 

"An  elegant  sufficiency,"  murmured  Lawyer 
Crane. 

"Is  she  the  one  that  bears  that  name!"  the 
court  wanted  to  know  of  Mr.  Crane. 

"She  is  Mrs.  Lasar,"  admitted  the  lawyer. 

Phillips  then  identified  the  register  of  the  Wind- 
sor Hotel,  which  was  handed  to  him,  and  pointed 
out  the  signature  of  Mrs.  S.  Lasar,  alias  Mrs.  S. 
Smith.  He  likewise  identified  on  the  following 
page  of  the  register,  under  the  date  of  Sunday, 
November  7,  the  two  names  of  M.  J.  Lasar  and 
Miss  Lasar.  The  smuggler  was  asked  to  stand  up, 
and  the  hotel  clerk  readily  identified  him  as  the 
man  who  wrote  the  last-mentioned  ontiy  in  the 
register  on  that  Sunday,  and  he  identified  Miss 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        181 

Cruede  as  the  young  woman  who  was  in  his  com- 
pany, and  who  was  pointed  out  to  him  as  being 
Miss  Lasar.    They  had  rooms  366  and  368. 

At  this  point  the  counsel  for  Lasar  about  made 
up  their  minds  that  the  jig  was  up,  so  far  as  trying 
to  conceal  the  fact  of  the  presence  in  Montreal  of 
Sarah  Lasar  about  the  same  time  that  the  smug- 
gler arrived  there  from  England.  Mr.  Crane  arose 
and  said: 

"We  concede  all  this  about  the  signatures  of 
Mrs.  S.  Smith,  Brooklyn,  at  the  Windsor  Hotel 
in  Montreal  on  November  6,  and  at  the  Queen's 
Hotel  in  the  same  city  the  day  following,  on  No- 
vember 9.  We  admit  nothing,  though,  as  to  the 
identity  of  the  persons  or  as  to  the  handwriting." 

The  witness  was  asked  to  identify  some  of  the 
stationery  of  the  Windsor  Hotel,  and  he  did,  par- 
ticularly an  envelope  bearing  a  three-cent  Cana- 
dian stamp,  dated  Montreal  by  the  official  postal 
stamp,  and  addressed  to  the  Pavonia  Hotel,  No. 

Chambers  Street,  New  York  City,  which  was 

the  establishment  of  Morris  Lasar.  The  letter  and 
envelope  was  in  the  handwriting  of  Sarah  Lasar. 

On  the  cross-examination  of  Clerk  Phillips  by 
Mr.  Crane  the  latter  naturally  tried  to  make  it  ap- 
pear strange  that  the  witness  should  have  remem- 
bered Mrs.  S.  Smith  so  thoroughly,  when  there 
were  some  two  hundred  odd  guests  in  the  house. 
Mr.  Crane  wanted  to  know  if  Mrs.  Smith  presented 
any  unusual  appearance,  if  she  had  deported  her- 


182   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

self  in  a  manner  as  to  attract  undue  attention,  or 
if  there  was  anything  unusual  in  her  behavior  that 
had  caused  the  witness  to  remember  her  above  all 
others. 

Mr.  Phillips  replied  that  one  of  the  things  that 
struck  him  as  being  odd  was  that  the  woman,  being 
undoubtedly  a  Jewess,  bore  the  name  of  Smith; 
that  she  did  not  speak  the  best  of  English;  and 
that,  although  she  had  engaged  in  a  long  conversa- 
tion with  him  regarding  weekly  rates  and  the  like, 
he  had  noticed  her  in  the  evening,  a  few  hours 
after  this  conversation,  purchase  a  railroad  ticket 
at  the  ticket  office  in  the  hotel.  This,  indeed,  was 
rather  strange,  he  imagined,  as  was  also  the  fact 
that  she  remained  at  the  hotel  one-half  day  only. 

An  attempt  was  made  by  Mr.  Crane  to  impress 
upon  the  jury  that  the  hotel  clerk  was  really  testi- 
fying as  he  had  been  coached  to  do ;  that  under  a 
special  arrangement  with  me  he  was  to  come  here 
and  pick  out  Mrs.  S.  Smith  as  Mrs.  Sarah  Lasar. 
In  answer  to  the  hundreds  of  questions  fired  at 
him  along  this  line  Mr.  Phillips  said : 

Mr.  Weldon,  the  manager  of  the  Windsor  Hotel, 
had  instructed  him  to  come  to  New  York  to  aid 
in  the  identification  of  the  people  in  question.  He 
was  accompanied  by  another  clerk,  whose  name 
was  MofPatt.  He  had  been  spoken  to  by  Mr.  Theo- 
bald regarding  the  identification,  but  had  not  been 
told  what  to  say.  He  was  quite  sure  as  to  his  iden- 
tifications, particularly  that  of  Mrs.  Sarah  Lasar, 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        183 

because  be  personally  assigned  the  room  to  ber. 
There  was  no  talk  of  compensation  regarding  his 
trip  with  Mr.  Theobald,  or,  for  that  matter,  with 
anybody  else.  Mr.  Theobald  had  made  all  arrange- 
ments for  his  coming,  but  through  Manager  Wel- 
don.  He  was  told  that  the  case  had  something  to 
do  with  the  smuggling  of  diamonds,  but  Mr.  Theo- 
bald made  no  attempt  to  describe  the  appearance 
of  Mrs.  Smith,  whom  he  was  to  try  to  identify. 

The  witness  continued  that  during  a  hearing  in 
the  Lasar  case,  prior  to  the  trial  then  in  progress, 
he  was  taken  to  a  room  in  the  Federal  Building, 
where  there  were  half  a  dozen  women,  and  Mr. 
Theobald  asked  him  if  he  was  able  to  identify  the 
person  who  had  written  the  Smith  signature.  The 
witness  said  that  he  had  no  difficulty  in  doing  this, 
and  that  he  immediately  pointed  out  Mrs.  Sarah 
Lasar  as  the  woman  who  registered  as  Mrs.  Smith. 
Nobody  exercised  any  influence,  nor  was  there  any 
endeavor  to  enable  him  to  make  the  identification. 

Satisfied  that  they  had  proved  the  presence  of 
the  smuggler,  his  sister-in-law  and  Miss  Cruede  in 
Montreal  at  one  and  the  same  time,  the  lawyers 
for  the  Government  called  Frank  Hough  and  H. 
Connolly  to  establish  the  claim  that  Lasar  and  the 
English  girl  had  arrived  in  Jersey  City  in  com- 
pany of  each  other.  Hough  was  a  clerk  in  Tay- 
lor's Hotel  and  H.  Connolly  was  a  bookkeeper  in 
the  Hotel  Washington,  both  of  that  city.  Hough 
testified  that  about  10  p.m.  of  November  11,  judg- 


184   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

ing  from  the  register  of  Taylor's  Hotel,  wliicli  he 
identified,  Mr.  Lasar  arrived  at  the  establishment 
with  Miss  Cruede.  They  were  in  a  cab,  and  drove 
up  to  the  ladies'  entrance.  Mr.  Lasar  registered 
the  name  of  Miss  Cruede,  which  the  witness 
showed  in  the  register,  and,  as  he  was  in  charge 
of  the  desk  at  the  time,  he  gave  the  young  woman 
Room  17.  Mr.  Lasar,  the  witness  added,  did  not 
remain  there  any  length  of  time  on  this  occasion. 
To  use  his  own  language,  "He  went  upstairs  with 
Miss  Ciiiede  and  was  there  about  twenty  minutes, 
I  suppose,  and  then  came  down." 

AVhile  Hough  was  on  the  stand  five  telegrams 
purporting  to  have  either  been  sent  by  or  received 
by  Lasar  were  offered  for  identification  and  duly 
marked,  both  sides  agreeing.  These  telegrams 
were  for  the  purpose  of  extending  the  proof  that 
Lasar  was  in  Montreal  and  Jersey  City  when  the 
Government  claimed  he  was,  and  also  tended  to 
show  that  one  of  the  telegrams  was  sent  to  Mrs. 
Sarah  Lasar.  Bookkeeper  Connolly  identified 
Lasar  as  an  old  patron  of  the  Hotel  Washington, 
and  swore  that  he  was  a  guest  of  that  hostelry  on 
the  night  of  November  11.  He  came  in  alone,  the 
witness  said,  and  he  personally  registered  him. 
He  stayed  there  for  two  or  three  weeks  after  his 
arrival. 


CHAPTER  X 

In  many  big  legal  cases  mucli  has  depended 
upon  the  opinion  of  the  expert  in  handwriting. 
There  are  some  who  believe  that  it  is  possible  to 
disguise  one's  handwriting  so  completely  that  the 
expert,  no  matter  how  proficient,  is  unable  to  de- 
cide with  any  degree  of  accuracy  that  it  was 
penned  by  one  who  wrote  this  or  that  shown  him, 
and  which  is  admitted  to  be  in  the  chirography  of 
the  person  involved.  Some  of  the  greatest  mur- 
der cases  ever  tried  in  the  United  States  were 
largely  dependent  for  the  conviction  of  the  accused 
upon  the  testimony  of  the  expert  Jim  the  Penman. 
At  times  these  experts  have  been  made  a  sorry 
example  of  by  the  cross-examiners,  but  as  a  gen- 
eral thing  the  experts  have  had  the  better  of  the 
argument,  due  no  doubt  to  the  fact  that  everybody 
who  writes  has  certain  characteristics  or  peculiar- 
ities of  hieroglyphics  that  all  attempts  at  disguise 
fail  to  hide. 

In  the  hope  of  showing  a  similarity  in  the  writ- 
ings of  Smuggler  Lasar  and  penmanship  in  the 
various  hotel  registers  ho  signed,  and  particularly 
to  establish  the  fact  that  the  signature  of  Mrs. 

185 


186   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

S.  Smith,  Brooklyn,  as  it  appeared  on  the  register 
of  the  Queen's  and  Windsor  hotels  in  Montreal, 
was  written  by  the  same  hand  as  that  which 
penned  a  letter  from  Montreal  to  Morris  Lasar 
at  the  Pavonia  Hotel  in  Manhattan,  S.  M.  Kins- 
ley, an  expert  handwriter,  was  jDroduced  by  the 
Government  as  a  witness. 

Sister-in-law  Lasar,  it  may  be  recalled,  became 
frightened  after  she  reached  the  Queen's  Hotel 
in  Montreal,  where  she  had  gone  at  the  request 
of  a  letter  from  the  smuggler  to  her  husband,  the 
saloon-keeper.  She  returned  to  the  metropolis  as 
a  result  of  this  fright,  but  her  husband  evidently 
put  some  backbone  into  her  and  had  her  go  back 
to  Montreal,  where  she  went  to  the  Windsor  Hotel 
and  met  the  smuggler.  Then  she  came  back  to 
New  York  with  the  diamonds  which  Lasar  had 
brought  across  the  ocean.  But  while  she  was  in 
Montreal  the  first  time,  and  before  she  became  so 
frightened  as  to  hasten  away,  she  wrote  her  hus- 
band about  her  feelings,  fears,  and  the  like,  and 
this  was  one  of  the  letters  found  upon  the  person 
of  the  husband  when  he  was  arrested. 

Mr.  Kinsley  was  called  to  express  an  opinion  of 
the  various  scrawls.  He  exiolained,  in  reply  to 
questions,  that  he  was  the  editor  of  Demnan's  Art 
Journal  and  an  examiner  of  questioned  handwrit- 
ing. His  professional  experience  as  a  penman  ex- 
tended over  a  period  of  fourteen  years,  he  said, 
and  he  had  been  consulted  in  some  three  hundred 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        187 

cases  and  had  testified  in  about  two  hundred  of 
them  in  the  courts  of  America  and  Canada.  He 
readily  stated  that  the  writing  entries  of  Mrs.  S. 
Smith,  Brooklyn,  in  the  registers  of  the  two  Mon- 
treal hotels  were  by  the  same  hand,  and  that  the 
letter  addressed  to  Morris  Lasar  and  found  upon 
his  person  when  that  individual  was  taken  to  the 
Hotel  de  Ludlow  was  written  by  the  same  hand 
that  made  the  Smith  entries  in  the  hotel  registers. 
The  witness  was  equally  positive  as  to  the  writings 
of  Smuggler  Lasar,  both  in  Montreal  and  Jersey 
City,  as  applied  to  the  hotel  registers,  and  also  as 
to  private  letters  and  certain  marks  upon  diamond 
papers. 

Naturally  this  was  most  disconcerting  to  the 
lawyers  for  Lasar,  and  they  tried  to  make  it  ap- 
pear that  handwriting  experts  were  a  poor  lot, 
after  all,  and  that  the  only  man  who  knew  to  a 
certainty  about  Lasar 's  writing  was  Lasar  him- 
self, but  unfortunately  his  word  would  not  be 
taken.  Expert  Kinsley  compared  the  various  ex- 
hibits both  at  home  and  in  court,  and  was  real 
mean  enough  to  stick  to  the  idea  that  he  had  origi- 
nally formed  as  to  the  similarity  of  the  several 
groups  of  writings.  Mr.  Lasar  evidently  did  not 
realize  that  he  had  placed  his  pen  to  so  many  va- 
rious kinds  of  papers  until  Mr.  Kinsley  began  to 
identify  receipts,  letters,  telegrams,  envelopes,  dia- 
mond papers  and  hotel  registers.  The  word  ''sold" 
as  it  appeared  on  the  empty  diamond  wrappers 


188   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

was  in  every  instance  pronounced  by  the  expert 
as  being  in  the  handwriting  of  Lasar,  indicating 
how  the  contents  had  been  disposed  of.  When 
it  came  to  his  passing  judgment  on  tlie  figures 
marked  on  these  diamond  papers,  the  witness  said 
that  he  had  nothing  with  which  to  compare  them, 
but  that  the  "L"  in  the  mark  was  the  same  as 
used  in  the  name  Lasar. 

Mr.  Crane  undertook  the  cross-examination  of 
Mr.  Kinsley,  and  his  first  question  was : 

''You  say  you  have  had  quite  an  extended  ex- 
perience as  an  expert  in  penmanship  ? ' ' 

''Professional  penman,  author,  pen  artist  and 
publisher  for  fourteen  years,"  was  the  reply  of 
the  witness. 

"As  a  matter  of  fact  the  testimony  which  you 
give  here  is  only  opinion  evidence?" 

"That  is  it  exactly." 

"There  have  been  quite  a  number  of  cases  of 
differences  of  opinion  among  experts  as  to  the 
genuineness  of  signatures.    Is  that  so?" 

' '  Not  quite  a  number.    A  few,  yes. ' ' 

"For  instance,  the  difference  of  opinion,  by  way 
of  illustration,  as  to  the  writing  of  the  bordereau 
in  the  Dreyfus  case.  There  was  quite  a  diversity 
of  opinion  in  that,  was  there  not?" 

"I  have  examined  it  and  passed  upon  it." 

"And  the  Esterhazy  letters — did  you  examine 
them?" 

"No,  sir,  I  did  not." 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        189 

''But  there  has  been  a  difference  of  opinion  with 
regard  to  those  expressed?" 

"There  are  ten  who  say  Dreyfus  did  not  write 
it  and  two  who  say  he  did." 

"Now,  at  the  most,  Mr.  Kinsley — fairly,  now, 
at  the  most,  your  opinion  as  to  Mr.  Lasar's  writing 
is  simply  based  upon  the  resemblance  between  the 
writings  I ' ' 

"Not  at  all,  sir,"  replied  the  expert.  "I  do  not 
go  by  resemblances.  Resemblances  we  refer  to  as 
pictorial  or  picture  only,  and  I  look  deeper  than 
that.  I  put  a  magnifying  glass  on  and  discover 
the  nerve-trembling,  the  quality  of  line  and  the 
nerve-pressure.  It  is  true  that  the  signatures  of 
men  are  usually  differently  written  than  the  body 
of  their  writings,  and  that  men  adopt  different 
curves,  or  what  may  be  called  peculiarities.  Many 
people  have  two  different  signatures.  For  exam- 
ple, I  do  myself.  I  have  my  professional  signa- 
ture and  then  I  have  a  rapid  business  hand  that  I 
make  use  of.  As  a  rule  the  majority  of  people 
write  their  names  much  better  than  their  general 
writing,  but  there  are  others  who  make  hiero- 
glyphics out  of  them,  so  that  you  cannot  tell  what 
it  is." 

"The  signatures  of  Mr.  Lasar  that  you  had  to 
base  your  conclusion  upon  were  the  signatures 
attached  to  official  documents?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"And  the  usual  signatures  which  a  man  would 


190   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

write  either  at  the  bottom  of  a  check  or  at  the  bot- 
tom of  official  papers  I ' ' 

''As  a  matter  of  fact,"  replied  Expert  Kinsley, 
"I  know  that  it  is  not  the  signature  that  he  writes 
to  a  check,  because  I  have  compared  them  with 
the  endorsement  on  the  back  of  these  checks." 

''Handwriting  will  differ,  will  it  not,  according 
to  the  condition  of  the  person  writing?  That  is  to 
say,  if  the  writer  be  in  an  excitable  mood,  or  if  he 
is  under  a  nervous  strain,  or  if  his  nerves  are  not 
in  a  proper,  settled  condition,  his  writing  will 
show  the  effect,  as  a  usual  thing?" 

"Yes,  the  pictorial  effect  will  differ,  but  the 
character  of  the  hand  cannot  be  changed  even  by 
design." 

"Upon  what  do  you  base  the  opinion  that  this 
writing  or  that  writing  is  Mr.  Lasar'sl" 

"I  took  the  two  conceded  signatures,  the  one  to 
the  receipt  for  the  diamonds  and  the  other  to  the 
stipulation,  and  compared  them  with  other  writ- 
ings— for  instance,  the  signatures  to  the  hotel  reg- 
ister and  the  telegrams,  Tt  was  on  the  conceded 
signatures  that  I  found  the  characteristics  for  the 
word  "sold,"  which  word  was  undoubtedly  writ- 
ten by  Mr.  Lasar." 

"You  assume,  then,  in  coming  to  your  conclu- 
sion, that  the  writings  on  the  telegram  blanks 
were  genuine  wi-itings  of  Lasar?" 

"No  assum})ti()n  whatever,"  returned  the  wit- 
ness.   "My  opinion  is  very  strong  on  that.    Just 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        191 

as  strong  as  it  is  on  anything  else.  I  either  stand 
or  fall  on  it  all,  or  not  at  all.  There  was  no  if 
about  it  at  all." 

"Take  the  letter  M'  in  'arrived'  in  the  telegram. 
Is  there  any  characteristic  about  that  letter  *d' 
that  corresponds  with  the  signature  of  Max  J. 
Lasar?" 

'*No,  sir,  because  the  'd'  is  not  in  the  signa- 
ture." 

General  Wellington  interfered  at  this  point  and 
said  to  the  witness : 

"When  he  shuts  you  off  as  short  as  that,  and 
it  does  not  express  your  full  meaning,  I  give  you 
the  direction  that  you  are  permitted  under  the 
rules  of  evidence,  with  His  Honor's  acquiescence, 
to  fully  give  your  answer  and  not  to  be  shut  off 
by  counsel." 

"Do  you  want  to  qualifj^  the  answer!"  asked 
Mr.  Crane. 

"All  I  intended  to  say  was  that  the  letters  you 
picked  out  for  me  are  not  incorporated  in  the  name 
Max  J.  Lasar,  and  consequently  you  cannot  make 
a  comparison.  It  is  not  fair,"  remonstrated  the 
handwriting  expert,  who  evidently  was  able  to 
take  care  of  himself. 

"You  say  that  you  have  seen  the  same  charac- 
teristics in  the  handwriting  of  different  persons. 
How  can  you,  with  any  degree  of  certainty,  give 
even  an  opinion  oatli  as  to  the  identity  of  the 
writing — that  is,  outside  of  the  retainer?" 


192   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

"I  am  not  a  lawyer,  and  I  do  not  have  any  re- 
tainer. There  is  no  string  tied  to  me.  There  is  no 
retention  in  the  matter.  To  give  an  opinion  in  a 
case  like  this  is  almost  as  certain  as  mathematics, 
when  you  take  the  height,  slant,  shape,  spacing, 
and  find  that  they  correspond  all  the  way  through 
in  two  sets  of  writings.  It  is  simply  clear  beyond 
the  bounds  of  all,  not  only  probability,  but  possi- 
bility, that  no  two  persons  could  so  incorporate 
into  their  handwritings  the  characteristics  that 
you  will  find.  The  writing  is  full  of  characters 
and  characteristics,  and  these  are  incorporated  in 
the  hand  by  countless  repetition,  and  you  cannot 
throw  them  off  even  at  will.  There  is  no  disguise 
attempted.  Really,  as  I  told  the  District  Attorney, 
they  did  not  need  a  handwriting  expert." 

"Much  depends  upon  the  kind  of  pen  that  is 
used,  doesn't  it?"  inquired  Mr.  Crane. 

''That  does  not  destroy  the  characteristics  of 
the  hand,  unless  you  use  a  club,"  responded  the 
witness  breezily. 

Doubtless  the  counsel  for  Mr.  Lasar  considered 
the  testifying  Jim  the  Penman  too  tough  a  nut 
for  them  to  crack,  for  when  it  came  to  the  time 
for  them  to  re-cross-examine  the  witness  they  met- 
aphorically bowed  him  from  the  chair,  without 
even  mentioning  tlie  fact  that  a  chap  named  Field- 
ing once  remarked  that  "setting  down  in  writing 
is  a  lasting  memory." 

To  this  day  Lasar  does  not  know  how  the  Gov- 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        193 

ernment  managed  to  get  the  original  telegrams 
that  passed  between  him  and  his  sister-in-law  in 
Montreal  and  his  hired  knaves  in  the  metropolis. 
I  would  like  to  tell  them,  but  it  is  a  state  secret. 


CHAPTER  XI 

It  was  quite  natural  for  the  counsel  for  Lasar 
to  play  the  innocent  act  when  it  came  to  the  time 
for  summing  up.  Nobody,  therefore,  was  surprised 
when  Mr.  Daniels,  clapping  huge  white  wings  upon 
Angel  Lasar,  sat  him  upon  a  golden  pedestal,  fig- 
uratively speaking,  and  addressed  the  court  as 
follows : 

*'We  all  feel  that  the  Government  has  made  out 
no  case  whatever  to  entitle  it  to  a  decree,  and  that, 
therefore,  the  defense  is  not  called  upon  to  intro- 
duce any  evidence.  This  conclusion  not  to  call  a 
witness  growing  out  of  what  we  believe  to  be  the 
insufficient  case  made  by  the  Government,  is 
strengtliened  by  the  anomalous  position  in  which 
the  defense  finds  itself. 

"All  the  witnesses  that  are  material  to  the  de- 
fense are  under  indictment.  The  claimant.  Max  J. 
Lasar,  is  under  indictment.  His  sister-in-law, 
Sarah  Lasar,  is  under  indictment.  Her  husband, 
Morris  Lasar,  is  under  indictment.  John  Maxwell 
is  under  indictment.  If  we  called  any  of  these  as 
witnesses  for  the  claimant,  their  going  on  the  stand 
would  be  a  voluntary  act,  and  anything  they  said 
upon  the  stand,  either  on  direct  or  cross-examina- 

194 


THE  LA8AR  DIAMOND  CASE        195 

tion,  anything  that  might  be  tortured  against  them 
on  the  record,  all  of  their  sayings  on  the  record  on 
cross-examination,  could,  under  the  law,  be  used 
against  them  in  these  indictments.  It  would  be 
otherwise  if  they  were  subpoenaed  by  the  Govern- 
ment and  compelled  to  go  on  the  stand.  Then  what 
they  said  could  not  be  used  against  them. 

''It  was  a  serious  responsibility  that  counsel 
were  confronted  with,  and  we  could  not  advise 
them  under  these  circumstances  that  they  should 
go  on  the  stand.  Much  as  we  would  desire  to  have 
them  go  on  the  stand,  much  as  we  believe  that  if 
they  went  on  the  stand  they  could  give  a  theory  of 
this  case  entirely  consistent  with  innocence,  yet 
it  was  a  dangerous  risk  they  ran. 

"So  far  as  I  am  personally  concerned,  I  may  say 
that  the  confession  that  was  introduced  of  Mr. 
Maxwell  was  a  complete  surprise  to  me  in  this 
case.  I  had  no  knowledge  of  its  existence.  So  far 
as  Miss  Cruede's  handwriting  was  concerned,  we 
are  confronted  with  this,  that  we  had  no  standard 
by  which  comparison  could  be  made,  and  for  that 
reason  we  were  in  a  situation  that  we  concluded  to 
rest  the  case  without  calling  any  witnesses,  and 
ask  Your  Honor  to  direct  a  verdict  in  favor  of  the 
claimant." 

Which  was  infinitely  amusing,  to  say  the  least. 


CHAPTEE  XII 

In  his  charge  to  the  jury  Judge  Brown  said : 

"The  information  in  this  case  is  filed  under  Sec- 
tion 3082  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  which  is  gener- 
ally known  as  the  ^Contrary  to  Law'  section,  and 
13rovides  for  the  condemnation  of  goods  that  have 
been  knowingly  introduced  into  this  country  con- 
trary to  law,  and  also  provides  that  the  offender 
may  be  fined  or  imprisoned. 

''This  section  provides  also  that  whenever,  on 
a  trial  for  a  violation  of  this  section,  the  claimant 
is  shown  to  have  or  to  have  had  possession  of  such 
goods,  such  possession  shall  be  deemed  evidence 
sufficient  to  authorize  conviction,  unless  the  claim- 
ant shall  explain  his  possession  to  the  satisfaction 
of  the  jury. 

"Section  3082  is  the  one  under  which  this  infor- 
mation has  been  filed.  Another  clause  of  a  more 
recent  act,  that  of  June  10, 1890,  is  in  these  words : 
'That  in  all  suits  or  informations  brought  where 
any  seizure  has  been  made  pursuant  to  any  act 
providing  for  the  regulation  or  collection  of  any 
duties  on  imports  or  tonnage,  if  the  property  is 
claimed  by  any  person,  the  burden  of  proof  shall 

196 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        197 

lie  upon  the  claimant,  provided  that  probable 
cause  is  shown  for  such  prosecution,  to  be  judged 
by  the  court.' 

"Upon  a  trialj  therefore,  of  this  kind,  where 
property  has  been  seized  for  a  violation  of  a  rev- 
enue act  by  being  introduced  contrary  to  law,  it  is 
sufficient  in  the  first  instance  for  the  Government 
to  make  out  simply  so  much  of  a  case  as  the  court 
may  consider  to  be  probable  cause  for  the  prosecu- 
tion. In  this  case  the  Government  might  have 
stopped  simply  there,  had  it  chosen  to  do  so.  It 
has,  however,  gone,  in  mj^  judgment,  much  beyond 
that  point  in  the  amount  and  fullness  of  evidence 
which  it  has  given  upon  that  general  subject.  In 
quite  a  number  of  particulars  the  contention  of  the 
Government  is  substantiated  by  several  different 
witnesses  instead  of  one.  In  many  particulars,  as 
it  appears  to  the  court,  there  is  a  union  of  differ- 
ent branches  of  evidence,  all  pointing  to  the  same 
conclusion,  namely,  that  a  considerable  quantity 
of  diamonds  was  brought  over  by  Mr.  Lasar  on 
the  Labrador,  was  sent  to  New  York  by  his  sister- 
in-law,  and  afterwards  taken  to  his  store,  24 
Maiden  Lane,  and  there  put  upon  the  market  and 
offered  for  sale  and  a  portion  sold  in  the  manner 
which  you  have  heard  described. 

"In  the  judgment  of  the  court,  then,  the  prob- 
able cause  which  is  submitted  for  its  decision  has 
been  quite  fully  made  out.  The  court  could  not, 
therefore,  grant  the  motion  of  the  claimant  to  di- 


198   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

rect  a  verdict  for  the  claimant,  and  that  motion  is 
denied. 

''Under  this  same  section,  having  found  and  the 
court  instructing  you  that  probable  cause  has  been 
shown  for  the  prosecution,  and,  in  the  judgment  of 
the  court,  much  more  than  probable  cause — I  mean 
evidence  extending  much  beyond  that  would  con- 
stitute by  itself  sufficient  prol)able  cause — the  de- 
fense is  thrown  upon  the  claimant. 

*'The  act  of  1890  provides  that  the  burden  of 
proof  shall  lie  upon  the  claimant.  This  is  a  pro- 
vision which  in  the  first  instance  has  been  very 
long  the  law  of  the  Government — I  think  since 
1799,  if  not  in  the  identical  words,  in  substantially 
the  same  form.  The  meaning  of  that  is  that,  hav- 
ing iDroved  so  much,  it  shall  rest  with  the  claimant 
to  show  that  these  goods  came  in  rightly,  were  im- 
ported regularly,  that  the  duties  have  been  paid, 
and  that  they  were  not  introduced  contrary  to 
law.  It  is  not  necessary  for  us  to  speculate  why 
that  section  was  enacted,  although  I  think  we  can 
see  very  good  reason  why  such  a  provision  should 
be  in  the  law. 

''It  is  because  it  is  the  Government  on  one  side 
and  multitudes  on  the  other.  Every  man  who  im- 
ports goods  knows  how  he  imports  them.  If  he 
does  not  import  them,  but  buys  them,  he  knows 
how  and  when  and  where  he  bought  them.  In 
other  words,  the  evidence  in  regard  to  every  spe- 
cific lot  of  goods  is  presumably  in  the  i^ower  of 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        199 

the  claimant  to  produce.  If  honestly  introduced, 
there  seems  to  be  no  reason  why  the  evidence  can- 
not be  produced  without  difficulty.  If  they  are  im- 
ported directly  by  the  person  who  claims  them,  he 
has  in  the  ordinary  course  of  business  his  evi- 
dences, his  invoices,  and  he  knows  by  what  vessel 
they  come.    It  is  a  simple  matter  to  explain  it  all. 

''If  he  bought  them,  he  produces  the  evidence 
of  his  purchases  and  shows  that  without  difficulty. 
I  say  in  ordinary  cases.  I  do  not  say  but  that  some- 
times there  might  be  a  combination  of  circum- 
stances in  which  there  might  be  difficulty,  but  the 
cases  would  be  very  rare  in  which  it  would  not  be 
simple  and  easy  to  explain  the  introduction. 

''The  Government,  in  dealing  with  thousands 
and  thousands  of  importations,  is  at  the  greatest 
disadvantage  in  proving  affirmatively  how  goods 
that  might  have  been  brought  in  clandestinely, 
secretly  came  in.  The  Government  has  no  means 
of  knowledge.  It  is  comparatively  wholly  dis- 
armed. As  no  evidence  has  been  introduced  on  the 
part  of  the  defense,  the  defense  does  not  take  up 
the  burden  which  the  law  puts  upon  it.  It  is  prac- 
tically, therefore,  the  same  as  a  default  in  that  re- 
gard under  this  provision  of  the  law.  As  this  bur- 
den of  proof  has  not  been  taken  up  by  the  claim- 
ant, upon  a  motion  to  direct  a  verdict  for  the  Gov- 
ernment, it  is  the  duty  of  the  court  so  to  direct, 
and  you  are  therefore  directed  to  find  a  verdict 
for  the  Government  for  the  goods  which  are  stated 


200   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

in  the  indictment,  except  for  the  six  packages 
which  you  have  heard  named,  and  which  it  is  con- 
ceded were  in  the  invoices  of  Maxwell  &  Arm- 
strong, and  which  had  paid  duties,  namely,  401, 
404,  405,  407,  408  and  409. ' ' 

The  jury  thereupon  rendered  a  verdict,  as  di- 
rected, for  the  United  States,  and  the  diamonds 
were  confiscated  and  afterwards  sold  at  public 
auction. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

"She  loved  me  for  the  dangers  I  had  passed, 
And  I  loved  her  that  she  did  pity  them." 

The  bards  have  sung  of  love  for  ages,  but  they 
have  not  sufficiently  exploited  the  dangers  of  love 
that  has  a  mushroom  growth.  This  is  the  sky- 
rocket sort  of  love,  except  that  sometimes  the  de- 
scent of  the  Cupid  stick  is  not  nearly  so  rapid  as 
is  the  ascent.  There  are  cases  where  this  sample 
of  spontaneous  combustion  of  loving  hearts  re- 
sulted in  amorous  conflagrations  that  all  the  fire- 
engines  of  gossip,  social  order  and  divine  regula- 
tion could  not  put  out.  All  of  this  is  preliminary 
to  the  relating  of  the  love-story  of  Elaine  Cruede 
and  Lancelot  Lasar. 

It  is  no  easy  task  to  decide  when  Government 
Witness  Ivy  Cruede  discovered  that  she  loved 
Government  Robber  Max  J.  Lasar.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  she  "loved"  him  for  sinister  mo- 
tives only  while  they  were  shipmates  on  the  old 
Labrador,  but,  as  absence  makes  the  heart  grow 
fonder,  it  may  be  probable  that  the  fatal  dart  made 
her  captive  during  the  period  of  her  sequestratio 

as  a  Government  witness.     She  could  not  have 

aoi 


202   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

loved  him  while  she  was  in  the  witness  chair. 
There  is  a  consensus  of  opinion  on  that  point. 

Miss  Cruede  on  this  occasion  had  practically 
defied  the  man  in  the  public  court.  It  may  have 
been  play-acting  on  her  part,  but  it  was  seemingly 
very,  very  real.  The  mirror  of  her  soul  flashed 
with  the  language  of  revenge  rather  than  with 
that  of  affection.  She  had  begged  the  presiding 
magistrate  to  permit  her  to  stand  alongside  the 
witness  chair,  that  she  might  the  better  see  Lasar. 
In  her  excitement — or  it  may  have  been  just 
"business"  for  dramatic  effect — she  removed  her 
sailor  hat,  and  as  she  stood  up  and  pointed  her 
finger  defiantly  at  the  smuggler  her  hair  fell  over 
her  shoulders,  making  a  scene  that  has  never  had 
an  equal  on  the  stage. 

The  strange  appearance  of  the  witness  as,  with 
disheveled  hair,  flashing  eyes  and  unswerving  fin- 
ger, she  called  upon  her  Maker  to  bear  witness 
that  she  spoke  the  truth,  did  more  to  influence  the 
jury  in  its  subsequent  finding  than  many  suppose. 
Lasar  never  had  a  chance  to  get  back  his  dia- 
monds after  the  woman  thus  testified.  Everything 
his  counsel  had  done  to  make  him  appear  a  perfect 
saint  on  this  wicked,  designing  sphere  was  scat- 
tered like  cliaff  by  the  spectacular  demonstration 
of  the  English  witness. 

Stranger  things  were  in  store  for  Lasar,  how- 
ever, and  he  was  soon  to  have  a  hearty  laugh  at 
the  expense  of  the  Government,  though  he  knew 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        203 

it  not  when  the  jury  rendered  its  decree  condemn- 
ing the  property  that  he  had  tried  to  smuggle.  He 
looked  as  white  as  the  driven  snow  as  he  left  the 
courtroom  with  the  adverse  judgment  ringing  in 
his  ears. 

The  failure  of  his  case  meant  more  to  him  than 
the  mere  loss  of  fifty-seven  thousand  dollars' 
worth  of  diamonds.  This  had  been  what  is  legally 
called  an  in  rem  case,  and  the  fact  that  the  jury 
gave  it  as  its  opinion  that  Lasar  intended  to  smug- 
gle the  goods  left  him  open  to  the  penalty  of  a 
criminal  proceeding  that  was  seemingly  sure  to 
follow.  Several  years'  imprisonment  stared  him 
in  the  face  as  he  left  the  courtroom  that  day.  He 
certainly  looked  the  part  of  a  miserable,  forsaken 
wretch  as  he  walked  half-dazed  but  woefully  alive 
in  the  direction  of  the  elevators. 

The  Federal  Building  is  built  on  a  triangle  at 
the  intersection  of  Broadway  and  Park  Row. 
There  are  elevators  at  each  corner  of  the  big 
building.  During  the  trial  Miss  Cruede  had  come 
to  the  building  from  the  Windsor  Hotel  each  day 
in  the  company  of  a  Secret  Service  man.  The 
Government  had  special  reason  for  keeping  the 
chaperon  in  the  background,  expecting  an  event 
to  happen,  but  it  never  did.  Max  Lasar  left  the 
courtroom  in  the  company  of  his  brother,  Morris, 
and  the  latter 's  wife.  Miss  Cruede  and  the  Wash- 
ington detective  departed  by  another  door.  The 
arch-smuggler  was  so  overcome  with  emotion  that 


204   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

lie  was  unable  to  talk,  but  bis  brother  pressed  bis 
hand  and  said  in  tbe  presence  of  a  dozen  court 
attaches : 

''Cheer  up,  Max.  Your  time  will  come.  That 
damn  girl  did  you." 

A  tear  stole  down  the  smuggler's  cheek,  his  lips 
trembled,  and  he  mutely  pressed  his  brother's 
hand.  The  latter  whispered  something  that  was 
not  audible  to  those  gathered  around.  Quick  as  a 
flash  the  face  of  Max  changed  to  rage,  and  he 
hoarsely  said : 

' '  Never,  Morris !  By  God,  never !  I  shall  never 
talk  to  her  again." 

He  evidently  did  not  know  his  own  mind,  and 
no  wonder,  with  the  awful,  wrecking  pace  that  it 
had  been  sent  during  the  long  trial  of  fourteen 
days.  The  two  brothers  parted,  and  Morris  with 
his  wife  walked  in  the  direction  of  one  of  the  north 
elevators  to  gain  the  ground  floor.  Max,  unat- 
tended and  with  bowed  head,  started  along  the 
lengthy  passageway  of  the  Broadway  side  with 
the  intention  of  descending  to  the  ground  floor  in 
one  of  the  elevators  on  the  south  end.  The  ele- 
vator, almost  filled  with  human  freight,  had 
stopped  as  he  reached  the  cage-like  structure  that 
surrounds  it,  and  he  stepped  aboard  just  as  the 
conductor  slammed  the  door. 

Lasar  heard  a  voice  say, ' '  You  must  not.  Listen 
to  me,"  at  the  instant  the  car  began  its  descent. 
He  turned  his  head  for  a  moment.    The  eyes  of 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        205 

Ivy  Cruede  were  fixed  upon  liim.  Such  a  change 
in  a  woman's  eyes!  All  the  vindictiveness  was 
gone.  They  were  as  calm  as  the  sky  in  the  seren- 
est  noon.  They  spoke,  though  her  tongue  was 
silent — volumes  that  spoke  pity,  placability  and 
love.  Lasar  gulped  it  all  down  in  an  instant.  The 
shadow  of  the  jail  was  upon  him.  He  was  down 
and  out  as  the  world  viewed  him.  The  only  thing 
left  him  was  diplomacy  and  this  woman.  Both 
were  valuable  just  then.  She  was  the  Govern- 
ment's trump  card.  If  he  again  possessed  her  he 
might  laugh  at  the  jail  and  locksmiths,  as  love  has 
often  done. 

It  happened  so  quickly  that  everybody  else  in 
the  elevator  wondered  how  it  really  happened. 
The  first  intimation  that  they  had  of  something 
unusual  transpiring  was  when  Ivy  Cruede  threw 
her  arms  around  Lasar 's  neck.  He  embraced  her 
and  sobbed  aloud  as  if  his  heart  would  break.  Not 
a  word  was  spoken,  and  even  the  jolt  of  the  car  as 
it  struck  the  ground  floor  did  not  awaken  the 
couple  from  their  unholy  trance. 

The  elevator  conductor  winked  significantly  to 
a  post-office  employee,  the  Secret  Service  man 
turned  black  with  anger,  and  one  of  the  lawyers 
in  the  recently  decided  case,  who  had  also  been  in 
the  elevator,  brought  from  the  recesses  of  his  tired 
brain  the  words  of  Lamb,  that 

"Man    while    he    loves    is    never    quite    depraved, 
And  woman's  triumph  is  a  lover  saved." 


206   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

The  Secret  Service  detective  was  for  stopping 
the  proceeding  the  moment  all  three  alighted  from 
the  elevator  car. 

''You  had  better  go  about  your  business,"  he 
said  to  Lasar,  and  he  said  it  in  no  gentle  tone.  But 
the  woman  stepped  in,  as  she  did  in  the  days  of 
Adam,  and,  taking  the  detective  by  the  arm,  she 
whispered  in  her  most  suasive  way : 

''I  beg  of  you  not  to  make  a  scene  here.  Re- 
member how  I  have  suffered.  He  is  more  sinned 
against  than  sinning.  Let  him  go  to  the  cars  with 
us." 

"No,  no,"  said  the  detective.  ''I  told  you  in 
the  elevator  that  you  must  not  do  it.  You  diso- 
beyed me.    Now  I  will  get  into  a  devil  of  a  hole." 

Again  the  woman's  eyes  changed.  They  flashed 
as  if  a  perfect  hell  was  to  break  loose.  The  owner 
of  them  said : 

''Well,  if  you  insist  upon  making  a  scene,  so  be 
it.  I  will  not  leave  unless  you  permit  him  to  go 
to  the  cars  with  me. ' ' 

It  was  a  plain  ultimatum,  and  the  Secret  Ser- 
vice man  saw  that  the  woman's  eyes,  like  those 
of  Mars,  were  fixed  to  "threaten  and  command." 
He  bowed  to  the  inevitable,  and  the  three  hurried 
into  the  street  on  the  Park  Row  side. 

The  scene  in  the  Federal  Building  corridor, 
while  seemingly  not  more  public  than  hundreds 
enacted  there  every  day,  had  nevertheless  at- 
tracted many  of  the  curious,  and  as  the  trio  made 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        207 

their  way  in  the  direction  of  a  Fourth  Avenue  car 
it  was  to  run  the  gauntlet  of  as  critical  a  mob  as 
one  could  wish  to  see.  Lasar's  demeanor  was 
markedly  Chesterfieldian  as  he  entered  the  car. 
He  bowed  the  detective  into  a  seat  with  the  grace 
of  a  veteran  society  woman  at  a  pink  tea,  and  he 
hinted  in  his  most  subtle  way  that  he  would  be 
highly  offended  if  the  official  guide  of  Miss  Cruede 
refused  to  let  him  jiay  the  fares. 

The  obtrusiveness  of  the  man  made  him  persona 
non  grata  with  the  detective,  who  insisted  upon 
running  the  programme  to  his  own  satisfaction, 
and,  to  use  a  modern  expression,  he  side-tracked 
the  smuggler  at  every  opportunity.  Mr.  Detec- 
tive had  to  go  it  alone  on  the  journey  uptown. 
Lasar  and  the  Government  witness  were  as  indif- 
ferent to  his  presence  as  they  were  to  the  family 
troubles  of  the  motorman  in  front.  They  billed 
and  cooed  like  a  couple  of  Central  Park  lovers  in 
summertime.  Their  profound  satisfaction  with 
each  other  was  so  great  that  they  failed  to  observe 
or  hear  the  many  rude  glances  and  pointed  re- 
marks of  their  fellow-passengers. 

One  of  the  things  that  troubled  the  detective 
most  on  the  trip  u})  to  the  Windsor  Hotel  was 
how  he  would  communicate  the  tidings  of  the  new 
danger  to  the  United  States  District  Attorney 
without  losing  sight  of  the  star  witness  for  an  in- 
stant. He  was  afraid  that  Lasar,  with  the  remark- 
able obliquity  in  his  moral  composition,  would  ere- 


208   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

ate  and  rehearse  new  fabrications  and  deprive  the 
Government  of  the  use  of  Miss  Cruede.  Plan  as 
he  might  to  avert  this  much-dreaded  condition,  the 
detective  was  unable  to  hit  upon  any  plan  until 
he  reached  the  Windsor  Hotel. 

"I  will  turn  the  girl  over  to  her  chaperon.  She 
will  keep  an  eye  on  that  fellow,"  soliloquized  the 
detective. 

The  Secret  Sei*vice  man  underestimated  the 
faithfulness  of  the  womanly  protector  who  had 
been  engaged  to  come  to  this  country  with  Miss 
Cruede.  She  usually  kept  two  eyes  on  the  latter. 
She  had  in  this  instance  as  many  for  Lasar. 

The  chaperon  had  never  seen  Lasar,  but  photo- 
graphs of  the  smuggler  had  been  shown  to  her 
from  time  to  time.  She  recognized  him  the  mo- 
ment he  entered  the  suite  reserved  for  the  witness 
and  herself  at  the  Windsor  Hotel.  There  was  no 
mistaking  the  look  of  disgust  that  overspread  the 
good  woman's  face  as,  with  Lasar  beaming  with 
joy  behind  her,  the  misguided  witness  entered. 

"What  does  this  mean,  Ivy?  The  Government 
has  won  its  case,  and  you  are  to  take  up  with  this 
bad,  dreadful  man  again?  Oh,  I  feared  that  you 
were  weak.    It  is  too  bad,  too  bad ! ' ' 

Miss  Cruede  did  not  make  reply,  but,  removing 
her  jacket  with  the  aid  of  the  gallant  Lasar,  she 
rang  a  call-bell  and  said : 

"I  must  have  a  cup  of  tea  immediately.    I  am  so 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        209 

fatigued.  Be  seated,  my  dear  Mr.  Lasar" — the 
latter  with  great  unction. 

'*He  shall  do  nothing-  of  the  kind,"  exclaimed 
the  chaperon  with  considerable  warmth.  "Oh, 
Ivy,  you  are  a  silly  girl.  You  cannot  be  in  your 
right  senses.  You  are  committing  social  suicide 
to  take  up  with  that  wretch  again." 

There  was  no  way  of  preventing  the  awful  scene 
that  followed.  Miss  Cruede  walked  over  to  where 
Lasar  was  seated  and  kissed  him  passionately 
again  and  again.  He  put  his  great,  rough  arms 
around  her  slim  waist  and  pulled  her  down  upon 
his  knee. 

"They  will  never  take  you  away  from  me 
again, ' '  said  he,  in  a  tone  that  was  extremely  soft 
for  him. 

"Never,  never!"  Miss  Cruede  replied.  "I  love 
you.  Oh,  Max,  you  will  never  realize  how  much  I 
have  longed  for  you ! ' ' 

The  face  of  the  chaperon  was  crimson  with  rage. 
She  was  a  gentlewoman  unaccustomed  to  scan- 
dalous scenes  that  gave  an  unmarried  girl  and  a 
libertine  a  chance  to  publicly  display  their  liaison, 
and  she  blushed  for  her  sex.  Yet  she  had  her  duty 
to  perform,  and,  like  a  true  soldier,  she  deter- 
mined to  remain  in  the  presence  of  the  dissolute 
couple  if  she  had  to  be  shamed  to  death  for  it  the 
next  moment.  She  therefore  remained  a  mute  but 
unsullied  witness  to  the  nauseating  exhibition  of 
licentiousness  that  followed. 


210   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

The  Secret  Service  man  had  hurried  downstairs 
to  a  telephone  the  moment  he  left  Miss  Cruede  in 
charge  of  the  chajoeron.  He  told  General  Welling- 
ton of  the  conditions  prevailing  at  the  hotel,  and 
that  official  said: 

' '  Go  back  to  the  rooms  where  they  are.  If  they 
attempt  to  leave,  arrest  both.  I  will  send  a  man 
up  who  will  stop  their  little  love  affair." 

I  was  at  the  Collector's  office  in  the  Custom 
House  when  General  Wellington  telephoned  and 
asked  me  to  go  straight  to  the  Windsor  Hotel.  I 
lost  no  time  in  getting  uptown,  and  entered  the 
suite  without  the  formality  of  an  announcement. 
This  is  what  I  saw: 

The  chaperon  was  standing  at  the  foot  of  a 
bed,  with  the  Secret  Service  agent  standing  near 
by,  with  his  back  to  Miss  Cruede  and  Lasar.  This 
precious  pair  had  undisputed  possession  of  the 
most  remote  corner  of  the  room.  The  English  wit- 
ness was  comfortably  seated  in  the  lap  of  Lasar, 
with  her  arms  clasped  about  his  neck.  The  smug- 
gler's face  was  a  picture  of  abject  terror  when  he 
saw  me. 

"What  do  you  want?"  demanded  Miss  Cruede, 
as  she  jumped  to  her  feet. 

"I  want  that  man  to  go  away  from  here,"  was 
my  reply,  as  I  pointed  to  the  snmggler. 

*'If  he  goes  away  I'll  go  with  him,"  said  the 
misguided  woman,  adding:  "I  have  made  up  with 
Lasar  and  he  has  i^romised  to  marry  me.     The 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        211 

case  is  over.  You  have  beaten  him.  You  cannot 
touch  him  now.  I  am  determined  never  again  to 
testify  against  him." 

So  Lasar  was  playing  his  trump  card !  He  held 
the  future  of  that  little  woman  in  the  palm  of  his 
hand.  While  her  eyes  were  blinded  to  her  folly 
and  his  vices  there  was  no  hope  of  saving  her. 
Capturing  as  he  had  our  most  important  defenses, 
it  meant  the  complete  downfall  of  the  Government 
case  against  him,  a  criminal  proceeding  involving 
imjorisonment  from  three  to  five  years  and  a  fine 
of  five  thousand  dollars.  His  love-making  had 
certainly  clogged  the  wheels  of  justice,  and, 
whether  or  not  it  was  a  real  amour,  it  truly  was  a 
diplomatic  investment  for  the  smuggler.  I  have 
tried  to  believe  that  Lasar  had  some  affection  for 
the  girl,  but  the  contrary  belief  will  not  down. 

It  is  just  likely  he  was  advised  by  his  friends 
to  renew  his  "attachment"  for  the  star  witness  if 
opportunity  offered.  He  doubtless  thought  it 
better  to  be  the  head  of  a  dog  than  the  tail  of  a 
lion,  and,  as  his  kind  of  ''love"  was  usually  found 
in  the  market,  he  probably  considered  it  profitable 
to  outwit  the  authorities  by  holding  out  to  this 
deluded  but  confiding  woman  the  glamor  of  what 
seemed  to  her  to  be  bright  promises  and  a  ray  of 
sunshine. 

''What  do  you  mean  to  do  with  this  woman?"  I 
demanded  of  Lasar. 

He  made  no  reply,  simply  grinned  at  me  and 


212   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

showed  his  teeth,  I  had  seen  him  display  his  teeth 
before  and  knew  that  he  was  laughing  in  his  sleeve 
at  me.  I  turned  to  Miss  Cruede  and  told  her  that 
General  Wellington  wished  to  see  her  and  that  it 
was  imjDerative  that  she  accompany  me  at  once. 

'•I  won't  go  without  Mr.  Lasar,"  she  said. 

That  was  just  what  I  wanted  her  to  insist  upon. 
I  rang  for  a  carriage  and  we  drove  to  the  District 
Attorney's  office.  Arriving  there,  Lasar  said  that 
he  would  wait  in  the  corridor  until  Miss  Cruede 
returned.  I  told  him  that  he,  too,  would  have  to 
appear  before  the  official,  and  threatened  to  cause 
his  arrest  unless  he  did  so. 

General  Wellington,  in  that  kind,  fatherly  way 
for  which  he  is  known,  did  everything  in  his  power 
to  show  the  Englishwoman  the  evil  of  her  ways. 
First  he  advised,  then  he  begged,  and  finally  he 
protested,  but  all  in  vain.  He  might  just  as  well 
have  tried  to  build  a  dividing  wall  through  the 
Atlantic  as  to  have  parted  the  foolish  woman  and 
her  knavish  paramour. 

Miss  Cruede  remained  in  New  York  for  about 
three  months  after  this  and  then  went  back  to 
Europe,  but,  as  was  anticipated  by  everybody  but 
herself,  Lasar  did  not  accompany  her  abroad.  I 
never  saw  her  again  and  I  never  w^ant  to.  It  was 
a  most  horrible  experience  and  a  thankless  piece 
of  work  that  I  had  to  perform  to  keep  her  out  of 
the  snares  and  pitfalls  that  were  set  for  her. 

The  Government  did  not  oppose  her  departure, 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        213 

being  satisfied  that  it  would  be  a  waste  of  energy 
and  time  to  attempt  to  get  her  to  testify  in  any 
criminal  proceeding  against  Lasar.  On  the  theory 
that  the- fool  tries  to  pick  a  fly  from  a  mule's  hind 
leg,  while  the  wise  man  lets  out  the  job  to  the  low- 
est bidder,  General  Wellington  washed  his  hands 
of  Max  J.  Lasar  once  and  forever. 


'0!  love  is  like  the  rose. 
And  a  month  it  may  not  see. 
Ere  it  withers  where  it  grows." 


CHAPTER  XIV 

An  experience  such  as  Lasar  had  would  have 
been  an  absolute  check  upon  the  dishonest  ambi- 
tions of  the  average  smuggler,  but  Max  J.  Lasar 
was  an  extraordinary  one.  The  lesson  held  out 
to  him  was  the  loss  of  fifty-seven  thousand  dollars' 
worth  of  diamonds,  the  sacrifice  of  a  very  large 
sum  in  counsel  fees,  the  complete  loss  of  his  busi- 
ness, a  thorough  disgrace  through  the  world-wide 
publicity  that  his  case  enjoyed,  the  abandonment 
of  friends  and  credit,  the  agony  of  countless  sleep- 
less nights,  and,  worst  of  all,  the  constant  pres- 
ence of  that  contempt  which  the  world  holds  for 
a  man  when  he  is  caught.  This,  I  repeat,  was  an 
experience  to  satisfy  the  greatest  glutton  for 
wrong-doing. 

But  Lasar 's  persistence  in  doing  wrong  was 
more  than  lie  could  control,  if  he  ever  tried.  The 
echoes  of  his  trial  had  hardly  died  away  when 
he  arrived  at  Quebec  on  one  of  the  Dominion  Line 
steamers  with  more  diamonds  that  he  intended  to 
smuggle  in  his  possession.  This  was  in  May  of 
1900.  I  had  been  warned  that  he  was  to  try  his 
old  tricks  and  I  was  on  the  watch  for  him. 

Unfortunately  he  arrived  in  Canada  at  a  time 

214 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        215 

when  the  Dodge  case  was  on  trial  befoTe  Judge 
Brown  in  New  York,  and,  as  I  was  the  seizing  ofiS- 
cer  in  this  instance,  I  was  compelled  to  remain  at 
the  Dodge  trial.  It  was  due  to  this  that  I  failed 
to  present  myself  to  the  man  on  his  latest  and  last 
attempt  to  rob  the  United  States  Government.  He 
fell  into  competent  hands,  nevertheless. 

Crossing  in  the  ship,  Lasar  became  acquainted 
with  a  young  couple  who  were  returning  to  Amer- 
ica on  their  honejTuoon  trip.  They  were  Brookljm 
people,  and  simple  in  their  love,  as  many  Brooklyn 
lovers  are.  The  smuggler,  with  an  innate  eye  to 
business,  thought  he  saw  in  the  unsophisticated 
human  turtle-doves  a  chance  to  "cast  an  anchor 
to  windward,"  and  during  the  trip  he  proposed 
a  chimerical  business  scheme  to  the  love-rapt 
bridegroom  and  the  two  became  quite  friendly. 

When  the  steamer  reached  Quebec,  Lasar  sur- 
prised the  couple  with  the  announcement  that  he 
was  obliged  to  leave  the  ship  there  to  go  to  the 
interior  for  a  few  days.  Why  he  did  this  was  not 
quite  clear  to  the  innocent  folk  from  Brooklyn, 
but,  as  they  told  him  that  they  were  to  stay  several 
days  in  Montreal  before  crossing  the  Canadian 
border  into  the  States,  he  relieved  their  sorrow  in 
a  measure  by  announcing  that  in  all  probability 
he  would  see  them  before  they  left  Montreal.  This 
was  agreeable  news  to  the  young  couple  and  they 
seemed  j^erfectly  satisfied. 

The  truth  is  that  Lasar  fully  intended  to  go  di- 


216   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

rect  to  Montreal  with  the  steamer,  but  at  the  pier 
in  Quebec,  where  the  craft  berthed  for  a  few  hours, 
he  saw,  or  imagined  that  he  saw,  the  face  of  an 
inquiring  mind,  and  tlie  vision  was  too  much  for 
his  nerves.  He  hastily  ordered  the  ship's  stew- 
ards to  get  his  luggage  upon  the  wharf,  and,  with 
a  great  flourish  of  trumpets  and  a  most  effusive 
farewell  of  his  fellow-voyagers,  he  disembarked 
and  purchased  a  railroad  ticket  for  a  hole  in  the 
wall  some  hundred  miles  inland.  This  was  a  bit 
of  acting  only  and  intended  as  a  ''throw-off." 

Lasar  left  the  station  with  the  discovery  that  he 
was  mistaken  in  the  identity  of  the  man  he  had 
seen  on  the  pier,  and,  satisfied  that  he  was  not 
being  shadowed,  he  lost  no  time  in  abandoning  the 
train  at  the  second  station  out.  He  then  proceeded 
to  Montreal  by  rail  and  reached  that  city  in  ad- 
vance of  the  doting  pair  whose  friendship  and  gul- 
libility he  wished  to  use.  He  remained  in  the  back- 
ground that  day,  and  when  he  found  the  Brooklyn 
lovers  at  their  hotel  the  day  following  he  was  quite 
careful  to  omit  that  he  had  reached  the  old  lair  of 
bank  wreckers  before  they  did. 

"I  arrived  an  hour  ago,"  he  said  to  them,  with 
a  great  show  of  comfort  that  he  was  once  more  in 
their  company.    "I  found  that  I  could  get  along 

without  remaining  at for  the  next  few  days. 

Besides,  I  did  not  want  to  miss  your  dear  selves." 

The  bridegroom  liked  "taffy"  at  any  hour  of 
the  day  or  night,  and  tliat  he  struck  at  everything 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        217 

that  Lasar  said  as  does  a  young  bass  at  his  fav- 
orite bait  was  excusable  in  view  of  the  esteem  with 
which  he  held  the  smuggler.  The  favorable  opin- 
ion was  likewise  shared  by  the  new  wife.  Both 
believed  Lasar  to  be  most  exemjolary  in  conduct 
and  opinions,  and  he  certainly  was  on  his  good 
behavior  while  in  their  company.  But,  then,  it  is 
a  simple  matter  to  please  some  people,  when  they 
are  neither  suspicious  nor  over-worldly.  Lasar  was 
a  tough  customer,  not  fit  to  live,  and  surely  not  fit 
to  die,  but  the  pair  from  the  City  of  Churches 
knew  it  not,  which  fact  was  their  undoing,  too. 

A  round  of  pleasure  was  arranged  for  the  bene- 
fit of  Lasar,  and  he  certainly  had  a  good  time  for 
the  following  few  days.  The  couple  had  lots  of 
time  on  their  hands  and  were  in  no  hurry  to  give 
up  their  sight-seeing.  As  for  Lasar,  he  was  anx- 
ious to  get  across  the  border  as  soon  as  possible, 
but  he  wanted  to  do  it  in  safety,  and  he  saw  in  the 
couple,  as  he  supposed,  the  means  of  doing  so.  He 
accepted  their  hospitality  without  any  exhibition 
of  weariness,  and  said  that  they  would  have  to  let 
him  entertain  them  when  the^^  had  crossed  the  line 
and  reached  Buffalo,  where,  he  added,  he  was  well 
known.  This  was  a  truthful  statement,  for  the 
most  indolent  detective  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Niagara  knew  Lasar  to  be  a  rogue  and  felt  justi- 
fied in  "interviewing"  him  on  sight. 

"When  we  get  to  Buffalo,"  Lasar  was  wont  to 
say  to   the   unsuspecting  couple,  time   and   time 


218   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

again,  "I  want  to  show  you  everything  that  is  go- 
ing. ' '  He  used  to  expatiate  at  length  in  this  wise, 
usually  addressing  both  of  his  companions;  but 
on  one  occasion,  the  day  before  all  three  left  Mon- 
treal to  come  to  the  States,  he  turned  to  the  hus- 
band and  said : 

"You  have  been  so  good  to  me  that  I  shall  miss 
you  very  much  when  the  trip  ends.  I  want  you  to 
let  me  make  your  wife  a  present  when  we  get  to 
Buffalo.  Now,  I  will  not  take  'no'  for  an  answer. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  have  already  selected  the 
gift  and  it  is  in  my  possession.  I  cannot  send  it 
back  to  the  jeweler's." 

The  night  of  the  day  of  Lasar's  arrival  in  Mon- 
treal I  was  informed  by  telegraph  that  he  had 
come.  I  immediately  called  ujd  the  Government 
officials  at  Niagara  Falls  and  also  at  Buffalo  on 
the  long-distance  telephone  and  instructed  them 
to  be  on  the  lookout.  I  tried  to  get  a  postpone- 
ment of  the  Dodge  case,  that  I  might  go  on  and 
make  the  seizure  personally,  but  was  unable  to 
do  so. 

The  smuggler  and  his  innocent  tools  at  last  left 
their  respective  hotels  in  Montreal  to  go  to  Buf- 
falo. Lasar  had  called  at  the  couple's  hotel  an 
hour  before  the  time  set  for  their  departure  and 
took  from  a  hand  valise  a  package  as  large  as  a 
cake  of  washing  soap.  He  handed  this  to  the 
bride  with  the  remark  : 

"Your  present  is  in  this  package,  but  I  do  not 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        219 

want  you  to  see  it  until  we  get  to  Buffalo.  It  is  a 
piece  of  jeweliy,  and,  for  fear  that  the  customs 
officials  on  the  other  side  of  the  border  might  ask 
a  lot  of  unnecessary  questions  as  to  how  you  got 
it,  I  think  the  best  plan  is  to  conceal  it  somewhere 
about  you.  When  we  get  to  the  other  side  I'll  open 
the  package  and  give  you  one  of  the  sweetest  pres- 
ents you  ever  saw. ' ' 

The  heroic  effort  that  the  woman  made  to  con- 
ceal her  desire  to  see  the  gift  there  and  then  was 
primarily  responsible  for  the  fact  that  she  per- 
mitted herself  to  indorse  the  advice  of  the  intrepid 
Lasar.  There  is  an  old  Spanish  maxim  saying, 
'^Es  de  vidrio  la  mtijer"  (meaning  that  woman  is 
made  of  glass),  and  how  was  this  lovesick  woman 
to  know  that  the  man  who  stood  before  her,  draw- 
ing fine  pictures  of  a  gift  she  had  never  seen,  was 
a  most  worthy  descendant  of  the  famous  Ananias  ? 
She  did  not  know,  poor  little  woman,  that  Lasar 
had  an  infatuation  for  smuggling  that  amounted 
to  lunacy,  and  that  he  was  virtuous  only  when  he 
lacked  the  opportunity  or  initiative  to  be  other- 
wise. 

Even  with  her  misgivings — and  she  later  admit- 
ted that  she  had  some — the  woman  looked  at  her 
husband,  who  was  present  when  Lasar  made  the 
proposition  above  quoted.  If  the  husband  showed 
any  disinclination  to  permit  his  wife  to  do  as  sug- 
gested, he  did  not  do  so  by  word  of  mouth.  His 
silence  seemed  a  golden  guarantee  to  the  wife  that 


220   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

the  idea  met  with  his  entire  approval,  and  she  took 
the  package  and  left  tlie  room.  When  she  liad  con- 
cealed it  upon  her  person  she  returned  to  the  room, 
and,  feeling  as  chip])er  as  a  schoolboy  at  promo- 
tion time,  Lasar  hurried  from  the  hotel  to  catch 
the  train,  his  two  dupes,  in  blissful  expectancy, 
trailing  behind  in  his  wake.  They  jumped  into  a 
convenient  carriage  and  within  half  an  hour  were 
in  the  railroad  car  that  was  to  take  them  to  Buf- 
falo and  their  doom. 

La  Rochefoucauld  it  was,  I  believe,  who  said 
that  it  was  more  disgraceful  to  distrust  than  to 
be  deceived.  Lasar 's  business  made  him  of  neces- 
sity distrust  everybody.  To  him  everybody  else 
was  wrong.  In  this  respect  he  was  like  the  woman 
watching  the  parade  in  which  her  loving  spouse 
participated.  "They  are  all  out  of  step  except 
my  Jimmie,"  was  her  philosophical  way  of  look- 
ing at  it.  So  it  was  with  Lasar.  Association  with 
dishonest  men  and  not  overly-honest  women  had 
made  him  as  polluted  as  a  rotten  mackerel,  and 
he  saw  nothing  that  was  good.  The  couple  from 
Brooklyn  were  as  childlike  and  bland  as  virtue 
itself.  While,  perhaps,  they  were  more  or  less  led 
astray  with  the  prospect  of  receiving  something 
from  Lasar,  they  were  also  equally  unselfish,  and 
their  consenting  to  carry  his  illicit  package  across 
the  border  was  to  please  Lasar  rather  than  reward 
themselves. 

Had  he  been  wise  enough  to  trust  the  couple 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        221 

and  let  them  enter  the  States  without  the  formal- 
ity of  remaining  in  their  company,  it  is  absolutely 
certain  tliat  he  wonid  have  succeeded  in  defraud- 
ing the  Government.  But  he  was  afraid  to  let 
them  out  of  his  sight  while  the  woman  had  the 
precious  package  on  her  person,  although  a  less 
sensible  man,  after  even  a  most  hasty  glance  at 
the  couple,  would  have  seen  honesty  depicted  in 
great  letters  on  their  faces.  Lasar,  however,  came 
over  in  the  identical  car  with  them,  and  even  con- 
versed with  them  in  the  most  self-satisfied  way 
when  the  customs  officials  came  around  to  examine 
their  trappings.  He  might  just  as  well  have  car- 
ried the  stuff  on  his  own  person. 

The  disillusionment  of  the  Brooklyn  couple 
when  the  Government  officers  stepped  up  to  Lasar 
and  informed  him  that  they  were  informed  that 
he  was  bringing  dutiable  goods  into  the  country 
^vithout  the  formality  of  making  a  public  declara- 
tion was  tragic  to  behold,  according  to  authentic 
reports  of  eye-witnesses.  They  had  no  suspicion 
that  the  man  was  not  honest.  He  had  assured 
them  of  the  fact  so  often,  had  seemed  to  be  per- 
fectly open  at  all  times  to  investigation,  and,  more- 
over, had  been  so  gentlemanly  and  pleasing,  that 
it  was  a  sad  blow  to  them  to  find  that  he  was  near- 
ly as  black  as  painted. 

Mr.  Bridegroom  said  he  knew  that  some  awful 
mistake  had  been  made.  Mr.  Lasar  knew  differ- 
ently   and    said    nothing.     The  bride  wanted  to 


222    DEFEAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

swoon,  but  was  afraid  to,  lest  the  releasing  of  her 
stays,  wliicli  is  the  usual  modus  operandi  adopted 
in  strenuous  events  of  that  kind,  should  reveal  the 
presence  of  the  identical  package  that  the  officials 
were  perhaps  looking  for.  They  say  that  all  lovers 
are  lunatics,  but  this  pair  were  wise  for  their  day. 
So,  while  the  bridegroom  produced  voluminous 
papers  to  attest  to  the  fact  that  he  personally  was 
a  very  honest  man — a  state  of  existence  which  was 
in  no  way  disputed — his  young  wife,  unlike  many 
of  her  sex,  was  unable  to  talk,  but  did  what  every 
woman  has  done  since  the  flood,  sat  down  and 
cried. 

The  flood  of  tears  swept  away  the  glamor  that 
she  had  invested  in  the  assurance  that  Lasar  was 
not  guilty  of  being  a  smuggler,  and  she  blamed 
herself  for  committing  her  friendship  to  one  of 
whose  antecedents  and  character  she  had  not  even 
inquired.  It  was  an  awful  shock  to  the  sensitive 
bride  to  be  thus  held  up  to  public  attention  by  be- 
ing proclaimed  the  traveling  companion  of  a  pro- 
fessional Government  robber,  but  the  worst  was 
to  come,  though  she  knew  it  not. 

While  the  j^oung  woman  was  holding  her  own 
counsel  and  struggling  with  herself  to  suppress 
her  emotion,  her  husband,  who  was  sjninky  as  a 
dock  rat,  was  saying  something  like  this  : 

"Gentlemen,  you  have  made  a  grievous  mistake 
and  owe  this  man  an  apology.  You  are  a  pack  of 
confounded  fools.  Gentlemen,  do  not  make  a  scene. 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        223 

A  horrible  mistake  has  been  made.  Oh,  you  long- 
eared  asses !  I'll  make  you  all  sweat  for  this  when 
I  go  to  Washington." 

And  so  forth,  alternating  an  appeal  with  a  pro- 
testation, and  a  gentle  utterance  with  a  violent 
denunciation.  But  the  stoicism  of  the  officials  was 
not  susceptible  to  threat,  asperity  or  appeal.  One 
of  the  officials,  who  knew  Lasar  from  title  to  dash, 
was  less  diplomatic  in  his  utterances  than  the  oth- 
ers, and  said : 

''This  is  no  mistake.  There  is  not  a  bigger 
smuggler  on  earth,  and  as  a  liar  he  is  like  Captain 
Cuttle's  watch,  'equaled  by  few  and  excelled  by 
none!'  " 

The  three  travelers  were  taken  into  a  private 
room  of  the  railroad  station  at  Buffalo  and  Lasar 
was  searched  in  the  presence  of  his  two  compan- 
ions. Nothing  incriminating  was  found  either 
upon  his  person  or  in  his  baggage.  Then  Mr. 
Bridegroom,  with  many  entreaties  and  much  men- 
acing language  on  his  part,  was  put  through  the 
same  examination.  It  was  a  heart-straining  or- 
deal on  his  part,  whereas  in  the  case  of  Lasar  the 
novelty  of  a  search  was  his  many  years  before. 

The  bridegroom,  of  course,  had  nothing  that  the 
customs  officers  wanted,  and,  without  expressing 
any  opinion  other  than  a  glance  at  one  another, 
the  officers  had  about  concluded  that  a  mistake  had 
really  been  made,  when  one  of  them  nodded  his 
head  significantly  in  the  direction  of  the  woman. 


224   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

''Don't  believe  it,  Jim,"  said  one  of  them.  ''She 
seems  to  be  all  right  and  above-board.  Why,  she's 
half  seared  to  death  to  carry  any  stuff  that  we 
want  around  with  her.  She  hasn't  got  the  heart 
to  do  it,  I'll  wager." 

At  that  moment,  had  they  known  it,  the  big 
heart  of  the  little  woman  was  throbbing  as  if  it 
would  break,  and  with  each  pulsation  forty  thou- 
sand dollars'  worth  of  diamonds  were  rising  and 
falling.  The  price  of  diamonds  rose  and  fell  with 
marvelous  irresolution  at  that  moment.  Would 
they,  or  would  they  not?  The  uncertainty  was 
awful.  Her  heart  stopped  stark  still  for  an  in- 
stant. It  looked  as  if  they  intended  to  have  her 
searched,  too.  -The  price  of  diamonds  was  very, 
very  low.  No,  the  three  broad-sliouldered  men 
were  talking  to  Lasar  again.  They  had  turned 
their  giant-like  backs  towards  her  and  their  de- 
termined-looking faces  were  earnestly  set  upon 
the  real  smuggler.  The  very  knowledge  quickened 
her  blood  and  set  her  heart  going  again.  Once 
more  there  was  a  rise  in  the  price  of  diamonds. 
Thump !  thump !  thump !  The  real  smuggler !  Why, 
it  was  she !  Oh !  the  very  thought  of  her  iniquity 
was  deadly,  and  again  her  heart  stopped. 

All  the  color  had  left  the  woman's  face,  and  she 
was  unmindful  of  anything  about  her,  when  she 
heard  a  faltering  voice  that  seemed  familiar  say 
something  that  sounded  like ; 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        225 

*'My  dear!  Awful — shame — insist — search — 
you. ' ' 

She  slirank  away  as  does  a  delicate  skin  when  it 
meets  a  cold  draught.  Mental  torture  and  physi- 
cal suffering  have  a  limit,  and  as  a  merciful  cli- 
max the  woman  swooned  away.  When  she  came 
to,  a  woman  was  bending  over  her  and,  with  the 
practical  way  of  a  woman, was  fastening  her  waist. 
The  bride  knew  that  this  woman  must  have  seen 
the  package,  which  had  been  concealed  inside  the 
waist  at  the  top  of  the  corset,  and  when  she  heard 
that  the  woman  was  an  inspector  employed  by  the 
Government,  she  knew  that  everything  was  known 
by  one  stranger,  at  least,  and  that  stranger  an  en- 
emy. But  the  bride  was  brave  as  she  was  faith- 
ful. Perhaps  she  really  believed  that  she  might 
in  some  unknown  way  manage  to  leave  with  the 
package  and  get  the  much-promised  present.    Or 

perhaps  she  just  wanted  to  be  loyal  to But 

what  is  the  use  of  conjecturing? 

"Madam,"  said  one  of  the  customs  officials  in 
the  most  kindly  voice,  when  she  had  seemingly  re- 
covered her  composure — "madam,  we  do  not  wish 
to  humiliate  you  with  a  search.  If  you  have  any- 
thing in  your  possession  upon  which  duty  has  not 
been  made,  please  turn  it  over  to  us.  Otherwise 
we  will  be  obliged  to  search  you  to  make  sure." 

Even  this  warning  was  lost  upon  the  woman. 
The  search  was  then  ordered,  and  the  woman  in- 
spector soon  ' '  found ' '  the  package  of  diamonds. 


226   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

All  three  were  then  placed  under  arrest  and 
subsequent!}^  released  upon  their  own  recogni- 
zance. The  Brooklyn  couple  had  no  difficulty  in 
proving  they  had  unconsciously  been  made  com- 
mon carriers  for  Lasar  and  were  brought  to  trial. 
Lasar  was  held  by  the  Grand  Jury  of  Buffalo 
under  ten  thousand  dollars  bail,  and  as  he  did  not 
have  a  friend  on  this  wide  earth  to  step  forward 
for  him,  he  was  unable  to  obtain  a  bondsman.  He 
was  convicted  when  the  case  came  to  trial  and  was 
sentenced  to  the  Erie  County  jail  for  a  term  of  six 
months  and  an  additional  fine  of  one  thousand 
dollars  was  imposed.  To  avoid  the  payment  of 
this  fine  he  served  an  extra  thirty  days. 

Immediately  upon  his  release  from  prison  he 
pleaded  so  earnestly  to  be  given  a  show  to  begin 
life  anew  that  some  of  his  acquaintances  in  New 
York  collected  a  sum  of  money  for  him,  and  he 
started  for  Europe  as  a  second-class  passenger  in 
one  of  the  Liverpool  steamers.  I  met  him  one  day 
shortly  after  this  on  the  Avenue  de  1 'Opera,  Paris, 
and  he  positively  took  to  his  heels  and  ran  away. 

The  last  time  the  man  was  in  New  York  he  was 
in  a  sorry  plight.  He  did  not  have  a  penny,  nor 
did  he  know  where  his  next  night's  lodging  was 
coming  from.  lie  was  in  search  of  a  position  at 
the  time  and  looked  to  be  a  skeleton  of  his  former 
self. 

Now  that  he  is  down  and  out,  as  the  expression 
goes,  I  pit}^  him  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart.  But 


THE  LASAR  DIAMOND  CASE        227 

is  he  entitled  to  sympatliyl  He  was  his  own  un- 
doing. He  preferred  to  be  a  smuggler  to  anything 
else,  and  the  orchard  of  smuggling  is  one  that 
bears  vainglory  blossoms  and  no  fruit.  The  finan- 
cial straits  of  the  man  and  his  general  condition 
prove  that  it  is  not  profitable  to  try  to  defraud 
Uncle  Sam.  Very  rarely  do  men  grow  wealthy  at 
the  business.  They  may  succeed  for  a  time  in  pil- 
ing up  considerable  money,  as  did  Lasar,  but,  like 
him,  they  must  spend  it  in  defending  themselves 
when  they  are  eventually  caught. 

I  know  that  at  one  time  Lasar  was  worth  two 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  it  is  be- 
lieved by  those  who  know  him  best  that  all  of  this 
he  secured  in  smuggling.  His  original  capital  was 
only  ten  thousand  dollars,  and  this  was  loaned  him 
by  a  friend,  an  importer  of  diamonds,  who  is  lo- 
cated on  Maiden  Lane.  When  Lasar  began  to 
smuggle,  the  duty  on  diamonds  was  twenty-five 
per  cent.,  so  that  his  profits  rolled  up  fast.  When 
I  arrested  him  the  duty  was  only  ten  per  cent. ;  but 
had  it  been  only  one  per  cent.,  I  honestly  believe 
that  he  would  have  smuggled  just  the  same.  The 
love  of  the  perilous  avocation  seemed  to  be  born 
in  him,  and  he  just  could  not  help  following  his 
calling. 

I  am  familiar  with  several  cases  in  which  he 
acted  as  common  carrier  of  smuggled  diamonds 
before  he  went  into  the  business  on  liis  own  ac- 
count.    His  commission  in  these  instances  was 


228   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

fi\  e  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  what  he  brought  over, 
the  other  twenty  per  cent,  defrauded  from  the 
Government  going  to  the  real  owners  of  the  goods. 
A  remarkable  fact  in  this  connection  is  that  firms 
for  whom  Lasar  brought  these  illegally  imported 
diamonds  and  other  gems  were  then  and  still  are 
supposedly  respectable  brokers  in  the  diamond 
district.  The  Government,  however,  knows  who 
they  are,  and  their  time  is  coming. 

They  say  Lasar  is  honest  now.  I  hope  the  state- 
ment is  true,  but,  without  doing  the  man  any  in- 
justice, it  is  hard  to  believe.  The  fox  may  grow 
gray,  but  never  good.  His  life  has  certainly  been 
a  failure.  As  a  great  man  once  said  of  another, 
Lasar  has  spent  his  life  letting  down  empty  buck- 
ets into  empty  wells  and  trying  to  draw  them  up 
again. 

"I  pity  him,  but  must  not  dare  to  show  it; 
It  adds  to  some  men's  misery  not  to  know  it." 


MRS.  MILES'  PEARL  NECKLACE 


CHAPTER  I 

"In  all  ordinary  cases  we  see  intuitively  at  first  view  what 
is  our  duty,  what  is  the  honest  part.  In  these  cases  doubt 
and  deliberation  is  of  itself  dishonesty." — Bishop  Butler. 

There  was  plenty  of  deliberation  in  what  Mrs. 
May  Miles  did,  but  the  jury  had  its  doubt  about 
her  doubt.  Mrs.  Miles'  doubt,  if  she  really  pos- 
sessed any,  consisted  of  whether  she  should  de- 
clare a  pearl  necklace  brought  by  her  from  Paris 
at  its  alleged  purchase  price,  or  if  it  would  be 
more  profitable  to  her  to  let  the  Government  em- 
ployees appraise  it.  That  was  her  plain,  unvar- 
nished statement  of  the  case.  An  ungallant  jury 
listened  patiently  to  what  Mrs.  Miles  had  to  say, 
and,  although  she  said  a  lot,  the  twelve  men,  for 
the  life  of  them,  were  unable  to  believe  that  Mrs. 
Miles  was  to  be  believed.  As  a  result  this  woman 
is  without  a  pearl  necklace,  which  the  court  rec- 
ords, her  sworn  statement  to  the  contrary,  show 
she  deliberately  tried  to  smuggle. 

Mrs.  Miles  is  the  wife  of  Harry  Miles,  of  Balti- 

229 


230   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

more.  Mr.  Miles,  according  to  his  own  assertion, 
is  a  man  of  means.  His  cliief  identification  with 
the  case  is  that  he  is  the  husband  of  Mrs.  Miles, 
but  did  not  know  that  she  was  bringing  to  this 
country  a  new  pearl  necklace  worth  $26,013,  which 
she  says  she  purchased  abroad. 

The  least  said  about  the  conditions  of  this  pur- 
chase, the  better  all  around.  They  will  not  bear 
the  scrutiny  of  a  very  powerful  searchlight.  "Be- 
cause I  would  live  quietly  in  the  world,  I  hear,  and 
see,  and  say  nothing"  on  that  score.  Leaving, 
then,  aside  the  matter  of  who  purchased  the  pearl 
necklace  in  question,  and  under  what  condition 
payment  was  made,  there  is  a  general  agreement 
that  Mrs.  Miles  arrived  in  New  York  July  22, 
1902,  with  the  necklace,  and  that  she  failed  to  de- 
clare the  same  coming  up  the  bay  in  the  steamer, 
as  required  by  law.  Had  she  done  so,  many  ex- 
pressions of  vituperation  and  calumny  might  not 
have  been  uttered. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Miles  went  abroad  in  the  summer 
of  1901.  Some  time  in  May  of  the  year  following 
it  became  necessary  for  Mr.  Miles  to  hasten  back 
to  America.  He  was  not  engaged  in  any  business, 
but  his  sudden  return  was  for  the  purpose  of  at- 
tending to  the  details  of  certain  business  for  his 
father,  who  was  too  aged  to  attend  to  them  him- 
self. Mr.  Miles  left  his  wife  in  Paris  with  their 
maid.  It  was  two  months  after  the  return  of  her 
husband  that  Mrs.  Miles  decided  to  start  for  home. 


MRS.  MILES'  PEARL  NECKLACE    231 

I  was  in  the  establishment  of  Tiffany  &  Co.,  36 
Avenue  de  I'Opera,  Paris,  about  July  12,  13  or  14, 
of  1900,  when  I  saw  Mrs.  Miles  for  the  first  time. 
She  was  engaged  in  examining  a  number  of  pearl 
and  diamond  necklaces  when  I  entered,  and  I  saw 
her  select  one  which  I  afterwards  seized.  The 
seizure  occurred  at  the  pier  of  the  North  German 
Lloyd,  following  her  disembarkation  from  the 
steamer  America,  which  had  brought  her  across 
the  ocean, 

Mrs.  Miles  did  not  take  the  rope  of  pearls  in 
question  with  her  from  Tiffany's  the  day  I  saw 
her  make  the  selection.  I  made  sure  of  that.  On 
this  occasion  she  was  seated  at  a  table  in  the  big 
jewelry  emjoorium,  and  a  salesman  exhibited  nu- 
merous neck-chains,  ''dog-collars"  of  pearls,  neck- 
laces and  ropes  of  pearls  for  her  benefit.  Without 
her  knowledge  or  consent,  I  was  at  her  hotel  in 
Paris  the  day  following,  when  I  saw  several  pack- 
ages delivered  to  her  by  an  employee  of  Tiffany 
&  Co.  At  the  time  of  the  seizure  in  New  York  I 
did  not  know  whether  the  rope  of  pearls  found  on 
her  person  was  half  the  size  of  a  chain  that  I  had 
seen  her  examine  in  Paris,  but  the  moment  I  laid 
eyes  on  it  I  identified  it  as  one  of  the  several  neck- 
laces that  were  shown  to  her  in  the  Tiffany  shop. 

Mrs.  Miles,  in  her  legal  fight  to  recover  the  prop- 
erty taken  from  her  by  me,  swore  that  she  made 
the  purchase  of  it  at  her  hotel  in  Paris  the  night 


232   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

preceding  her  departure  from  Cherbourg  in  the 
steamer  America.  In  this  detail  I  was  obliged  to 
disagree  with  the  woman,  and  her  counsel  tried 
to  make  a  mountain  out  of  the  fact  that  we  failed 
to  agree  on  this  and  a  number  of  other  points,  im- 
portant or  otherwise,  but  chiefly  the  latter.  It 
was  quite  natural  that  there  should  be  more  or  less 
disparity  in  our  statements,  disprovable  as  the 
majority  of  hers  were  afterwards  shown  to  be. 
I  will,  however,  let  the  testimony  and  evidence 
decide  these  points  and  stick  to  a  straightforward 
story. 

Before  I  had  even  dreamed  of  meeting  Mrs. 
Miles  so  soon,  I  purchased  my  ticket  in  Paris  to 
come  back  to  New  York  on  the  America.  I  had  no 
idea  that  the  woman  was  to  be  a  fellow-passenger 
until  I  saw  her  on  the  tender  in  Cherbourg  harbor 
that  was  taking  us  to  the  ocean  greyhound,  then 
lying  outside  near  the  breakwater. 

I  had  rather  calculated  that  Mrs.  Miles  would 
come  home  later  in  the  season,  and  b}^  another  ves- 
sel, it  mattered  not  by  what  or  when,  for  I  felt  sat- 
isfied that  I  would  demand  an  interview  of  her  con- 
cerning her  jewelry  whenever  she  did  arrive  on 
this  side.  I  was  inclined  to  believe  that,  in  addi- 
tion to  a  necklace  of  pearls,  she  had  selected  a  dog- 
collar  of  pearls,  but,  if  she  did,  I  never  found  it, 
nor  did  she  give  it  up. 

The  America  made  an  exceptionally  fine  run 
across  the  Atlantic.    Many  things  concerning  this 


MRS.  MILES'  PEARL  NECKLACE    233 

narrative  transpired  diu-ing  the  triji  and  will  be 
treated  when  the  proper  time  arrives.  One  may 
be  told  now,  however,  because  of  its  strong  bearing 
on  a  statement  of  Mrs.  Miles  made  on  the  stand 
during  the  trial  that  followed  the  seizure. 

When  we  were  three  days  out,  or  in  mid-ocean, 
the  commanding  officer  of  the  America  gave  a  tea 
in  his  cabin,  and  invited  fifteen  of  the  six  hundred 
odd  passengers  on  board.  Mrs,  Miles  was  one  of 
the  favored  few  and  I  was  another.  At  this  gath- 
ering many  trifling  things  were  said,  as  is  usual 
at  functions  of  this  kind,  and  during  the  course  of 
events  I  was  presented  to  Mrs.  Miles-by  one  of  the 
most  popular  of  the  passengers. 

Yet  when  Mrs.  Miles  went  on  the  stand  she 
swore  that  she  had  never,  to  her  recollection,  seen 
me  before  the  morning  on  which  I  presented  my- 
self to  her  on  the  steamship  pier  and  asked  her  to 
hand  over  to  me  the  necklace  which  she  received 
while  abroad.  I  was  an  utter  stranger  to  her,  ac- 
cording to  her  well-groomed  statement,  and  she 
added  that  she  was  naturally  amazed  when  I  spoke 
to  her. 

I  truly  and  honestly  think  she  was  amazed. 
Dumfounded  would  better  describe  her  condition 
at  that  moment,  for  she  was  unable  to  talk.  But 
Mrs.  Miles  had  her  own  reason  for  swearing  that 
she  never  saw  me  before  that  morning,  and  she 
swore  to  it  as  positively  as  the  Irishman  did  to  the 


234   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

identity  of  the  gun  which  he  said  he  knew  ever 
since  it  was  a  pistol. 

I  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  say  that  tbe  jury 
did  not  believe  this  or  a  number  of  other  oaths 
which  the  woman  made.  The  verdict  shows  that. 
Rather  than  have  any  misunderstanding  on  the 
score  that  Mrs.  Miles  did  see  me  on  shipboard 
during  the  trip,  I  am  going  to  relate  a  little  state 
secret.  Perhaps  I  should  not  tell  it,  for  Mrs. 
Miles'  sake,  but  her  lawyers  were  so  anxious  to 
make  my  actions  appear  in  an  unfavorable  light 
that  I  must  of  necessity  defend  myself  and  relate 
an  incident  of  the  trip  that  did  not  come  out  dur- 
ing the  trial. 

Another  of  our  fellow-passengers  on  the  Amer- 
ica was  a  ''Dr."  Sampson,  a  man  about  town,  who 
made  a  living  in  dabbling  in  race  horses,  faro  and 
other  "harmless"  amusements  of  the  gambler. 
This  man  lately  sued  the  Police  Department  of 
New  York  for  damages,  claiming  that  a  picture  of 
himself  which  the  police  had  put  in  the  rogues' 
gallery  had  no  business  there,  or  something  like 
that.  The  day  before  the  "tea"  in  the  captain's 
cabin  on  the  America  "Dr."  Sampson,  with  whom 
I  had  a  slight  acquaintance,  came  to  me  on  the 
promenade  deck  and  said  that  Mrs.  Miles,  who 
had  noticed  me  several  times  since  the  ship  left 
the  English  Channel,  desired  to  meet  me,  and  that 
he  would  be  pleased  to  present  me. 

"No,  thank  you,"  was  my  reply.     "I  do  not 


MRS.  MILES'  PEARL  NECKLACE    235 

care  to  meet  the  lady.  Why?  I  have  my  own  rea- 
sons." 

I  did  not  then  have,  nor  have  I  now,  the  slightest 
douBt  that  ''Dr."  Sampson  was  telling  the  truth. 
He  is  a  man  of  the  world,  with  all  that  the  ex- 
l^ression  implies,  but  his  word  is  as  good  as  his 
bond,  according  to  those  who  know  him  well.  Just 
why  Mrs.  Miles  wished  to  ''meet"  me  I  am  at  a 
loss  to  conceive,  but  it  is  as  clear  as  daylight  that 
I  was  not  the  utter  stranger  that  she  would  have 
the  jury  believe. 

"Dr."  Sampson  is  still  alive  to  substantiate 
what  I  say,  and  so  is  another  passenger,  a  well- 
known  lawyer,  who  heard  what  the  sporting  man 
said  and  also  the  reply  that  I  made.  An  effort 
was  made  at  the  time  to  get  the  gambler  to  court, 
but  he  was  absent  from  the  city.  There  is  like- 
wise another  untold  incident  of  the  trip  to  indi- 
cate that  Mrs.  Miles  was  not  entirely  unaware  of 
my  existence  before  that  eventful  morning  on  the 
X^ier,  but  it  will  keep.  T  will  take  Emerson's  ad- 
vice in  this  matter  and  "Be  silent,  where  reason 
is  not  regarded  and  truth  is  distasteful." 

Mrs.  Miles  brought  with  her  back  from  Paris 
twenty-one  pieces  of  baggage,  nine  of  which  were 
trunks.  While  the  ship  was  coming  up  the  bay 
to  her  pier,  the  custom  house  officials,  as  was  cus- 
tomary, boarded  her  from  a  revenue  cutter  to  take 
the  declarations  of  the  passengers.  A  deputy  col- 
lector in  charge  of  the  division  of  the  customs 


236   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

service,  a  branch  that  superintends  tlie  collection 
of  duties  on  passengers'  baggage  and  the  regula- 
tions relating  thereto,  was  in  control  of  the  Gov- 
ernment work  on  the  America  the  day  she  ar- 
rived. 

Mr.  Miles  on  former  trips  had  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  the  deputy,  and  that  gentleman  had 
instructed  his  wife  to  present  herself  to  the  dep- 
uty on  the  ship's  arrival.  This  the  Baltimore 
society  woman  did.  The  deputy  is  noted  for  his 
kindness  to  everybody,  women  in  particular,  and 
he  took  Mrs.  Miles  on  this  occasion  to  a  seat  in  the 
main  saloon,  where  the  passengers  had  gathered 
to  make  their  declarations. 

"Take  a  place  at  this  table,"  said  the  deputy  to 
Mrs.  Miles.  "There  are  only  a  few  ahead  of  you, 
and  you  may  make  your  declaration  to  this 
officer. ' ' 

By  this  officer  the  deputy  meant  an  acting  dep- 
uty collector,  whose  duty  that  day  was  to  receive 
passengers'  declarations.  The  acting  deputy  was 
at  the  head  of  the  table,  and  when  Mrs.  Miles' 
time  came  the  official  asked  her  the  customary 
questions  as  to  how  much  she  had  expended  abroad 
for  wearing  apparel,  but  the  society  woman  was 
unable  to  tell  him. 

The  acting  deputy  was  not  satisfied  with  the 
answers  of  the  woman  and  questioned  her  more 
fully  than  is  usual.  She  admitted  finally  that  she 
had  made  purchases  of  wearing  apparel  during 


MRS.  MILES'  PEARL  NECKLACE    237 

her  absence,  but  added  that  she  was  unable  to 
state  to  what  value.  The  officer  then  made  an  en- 
try across  the  declaration:  "wearing  apparel 
— value  unknown."  The  exact  phraseology  is 
quoted,  because  it  was  the  only  leg  that  the  de- 
fense had  to  stand  on  when  the  case  came  to  trial. 

Having  thus  disposed  of  the  question  of  wear- 
ing apparel,  the  acting  deputy  collector  questioned 
Mrs,  Miles  specifically  regarding  the  purchase  of 
articles  of  personal  adornment,  but  she  made  no 
answer.  At  all  events  she  failed  to  declare  the 
new  jewelry  then  in  her  possession.  Of  this  part 
of  the  affair  the  evidence  of  the  acting  deputy 
was: 

Q.  Did  Mrs.  Miles  mention  to  you  at  the  time 
you  took  her  declaration  that  she  had  jjurchased 
any  jewelry  abroad? 

A.  No,  she  did  not. 

Q.  Did  you  ask  her  whether  she  had  or  not? 

A.  I  am  strongly  under  the  imiDression  that  I 
questioned  her  particularly  on  that  one  point. 

Q.  But  you  are  sure  that  she  did  not  mention 
to  you  at  any  time  during  the  process  of  taking 
her  declaration,  and  before  she  signed  the  declara- 
tion, that  she  had  purchased  any  jewelry  abroad? 
Is  that  right! 

A.  Perfectly  sure  of  that. 

The  declaration  of  Mrs.  Miles  was  numbered 
425,  and  because  the  witness  had  to  educate  the 
woman's  lawyers  as  to  the  modus  operandi  of  re- 


238    DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

ceiving  the  statements  of  incoming  passengers, 
that  part  of  the  case  was  long  drawn  out  and  quite 
tedious.  The  acting  deputy  put  the  woman's  dec- 
hiration  with  some  others  that  he  had  taken  on 
the  cabin  table  before  him,  preparatory  to  deliv- 
ering them  to  another  official  whose  duty  it  was 
to  collect  all  the  declarations  for  presentation  to 
the  official  desk  on  the  j^ier. 

I  walked  through  the  saloon  shortly  before  the 
declarations  were  removed  from  the  table  and 
picked  up  the  one  that  Mrs.  Miles  had  made.  Her 
signature  affirming  to  the  contents  of  the  paper 
appeared  at  the  top  and  the  bottom  of  the  docu- 
ment, but  there  was  no  mention  of  any  pearl  neck- 
lace or  other  valuable  jewelry,  as  the  law  required. 
That  fact  I  made  mental  note  of,  and  afterwards 
mentioned  the  fact  to  the  deputy,  also  saying  to 
him : 

"When  Mrs.  Miles  reaches  the  pier  I  wish  you 
would  be  a  witness  to  what  I  say." 

The  deputy  collector  assented,  and  a  few  mo- 
ments later  I  saw  Mrs.  Miles  on  the  promenade 
deck,  all  ready  to  go  ashore.  She  wore  a  dark 
traveling  skirt,  a  white  silk  shirt-waist  under  a 
light  jacket,  and  a  French  hat.  Two  costly  pearl 
earrings  were  in  her  ears  and  her  ungloved  fingers 
were  covered  with  rings  of  all  descriptions.  I 
make  mention  of  the  clothes  she  wore  for  the  rea- 
son that  the  counsel  of  the  woman  afterwards  tried 
to  make  believe  that  her  waist  worn  that  day  was 


MKS.  MILES'  PEARL  NECKLACE    239 

made  of  linen,  with  a  sheer  lace  yoke,  and  that  she 
wore  the  seized  necklace  around  her  neck,  where, 
under  the  openwork,  it  could  be  plainly  seen. 

It  is  true  that  Mrs.  Miles  removed  her  reefer 
because  of  the  intense  heat  when  she  reached  the 
pier,  thus  making  her  waist  entirely  conspicuous. 
It  was  claimed  by  her  attorneys  that  the  removal 
of  this  coat  gave  everybody  full  opportunity  to  see 
the  necklace  in  question  that  was  around  her 
throat.  Of  course,  the  woman  did  not  have  the 
new  necklace  around  her  throat  or  anywhere  else 
in  plain  view. 

Mrs.  Miles  was  shrewd  enough  to  put  the  new 
necklace  in  a  safe  place  on  her  person,  and  it  was 
not  in  her  pocket,  either.  It  was  about  ten  in  the 
morning  when  the  America  was  warped  into  her 
pier,  and  Mrs.  Miles  and  maid  were  among  the 
first  to  disembark.  Mr.  Miles  was  on  the  pier  to 
meet  his  wife  and  baby,  and,  following  an  atfec- 
tionate  greeting,  he  took  the  maid  up  to  the  end 
of  the  pier  and  placed  her  in  a  closed  carriage. 
Then  he  returned  to  that  section  of  the  pier 
marked  by  the  letter  "M,"  where  the  family  bag- 
gage was  being  carried  from  the  ship.  I  waited 
more  than  an  hour,  the  time  being  consumed  in 
greeting  my  own  family,  before  I  made  any  at- 
tempt to  ask  Mrs.  Miles  regarding  her  failure  to 
declare  the  necklace  which  she  had  illegally 
brought  in. 

Mrs.  Miles  was  standing  at  the  end  of  one  of 


240   DEFEAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

her  trunks,  and  her  husband  was  seated  on  one 
of  them,  when  I  approached  with  the  deputy. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  conversation  that 
ensued,  although  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Miles  gave  a  dif- 
ferent version  of  it,  as  was  expected  they  would 
do. 

"Mrs.  Miles,"  I  said  to  that  woman,  "this  is 
the  Deputy  Collector  of  the  Port."  She  nodded, 
indicating  that  she  had  met  the  deputy  before. 
Then  the  latter  said : 

"How  do  3^ou  do,  Mrs.  Miles!  I  have  already 
met  you  on  board." 

"Mrs.  Miles,"  I  resumed,  "you  have  some  jew- 
elry in  your  possession  which  you  got  while  in 
Paris,  and  you  have  failed  to  declare  the  same." 

Mr.  Miles  was  still  seated  on  a  trunk,  some  four 
or  five  feet  away,  and,  noticing  this,  I  said: 

"Mr.  Miles,  I  wish  you  would  listen  to  what  I 
am  going  to  say.  You  are  interested  in  it,  I 
think." 

Mr.  Miles  arose  and  came  over  to  where  we  were 
standing.  Again  addressing  Mrs.  Miles,  I  repeated 
that  she  had  neglected  to  declare  some  jewelry 
that  had  come  from  Tiffany  &  Co.  in  Paris.  Mr. 
Miles  seemed  to  be  taken  completely  aback  at  the 
statement,  but  his  wife  did  not  appear  to  be  nearly 
so  perplexed  as  she  afterwards  said  she  was.  She 
made  reply: 

"You  are  entirely  mistaken.    I  had  some  jew- 


MRS.  MILES'  PEARL  NECKLACE    241 

elry  mended  in  Paris,  and  that  is  all.  The  repairs 
did  not  amount  to  much. ' ' 

"Excuse  me,  Mrs.  Miles,"  I  insisted.  "I  am 
thoroughly  familiar  with  what  you  have  brought 
from  Paris,  and,  as  you  have  not  declared  the 
same,  you  will  do  me  the  kindness  to  deliver  the 
same  to  me." 

"Has  the  United  States  Govermnent  any  officers 
in  the  jewelry  stores  in  Paris  to  find  out  what  the 
Americans  purchase  over  there?"  inquired  Mrs. 
Miles,  a  trifle  annoyed. 

"The  Government  has  not,  if  it  be  of  any  inter- 
est to  you  to  know,"  I  made  reply,  adding:  "It 
has  nothing  to  do  with  this  particular  case,  and  I 
again  ask  3^ou  to  hand  over  to  me  the  jewelry 
which  you  have  failed  to  declare." 

Mrs.  Miles  hesitated  for  a  full  minute,  and 
finally  said:  "Well,  I  did  purchase  a  pearl  neck- 
lace while  in  Paris,  but  I  only  paid  eight  or  nine 
thousand  dollars  for  it.  But  please  do  not  take 
it  from  me.    Must  you  take  it  from  me  ? ' ' 

"It  is  my  duty  to  do  so,"  I  replied.  "I  must 
take  it.  If  you  have  it  around  your  neck,  please 
pass  your  finger  under  your  collar  and  hand  it  to 
me  here." 

"That  is  impossible,"  said  the  society  woman. 
"It  is  not  around  my  neck.  There  are  too  many 
people  on  the  pier  here,  and  I  cannot  expose  my 
person  by  handing  you  what  you  want.  Is  there 
no  private  room  in  which  I  may  gof" 


242   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

It  was  the  deputy  collector,  I  think,  who  sug- 
gested that  we  go  back  aboard  the  America  and 
permit  Mrs.  Miles  to  take  the  necklace  from  her 
person.  At  that  moment  the  deputy  was  called 
away  to  j^erform  another  official  task  and  was  un- 
able to  accompany  us  on  board. 

Mrs.  Miles  ascended  the  gang-plank  first,  with 
her  husband  and  myself  in  the  order  named.  We 
went  to  the  social  hall  of  the  craft,  and  while  Mrs. 
Miles  entered  that  luxurious  apartment,  Mr.  Miles 
and  myself  remained  out  on  the  j)romenade  deck, 
seated  on  one  of  the  many  benches  that  were  there. 

Mrs.  Miles  was  gone  several  minutes.  Her  hus- 
band during  her  absence  was  painfully  crestfallen, 
and  for  a  full  minute  after  we  sat  down  he  made 
no  attempt  to  speak.    At  last  he  said: 

"This  is  a  sad  ending  to  a  pleasure  trip.  I  can- 
not explain  to  you,  but  it  will  be  a  dreadful  blow 
to  my  people  and  our  friends.  Do  you  think  it 
will  escape  the  newspapers  ?  The  puUlicity  is  more 
than  I  can  bear." 

''Newspaper  men,"  said  I,  ''have  a  way  pecu- 
liarly their  own  in  hearing  of  cases  of  this  kind. 
I  am  afraid  that  the}^  will  get  information  of  it 
in  the  usual  course  of  events." 

"Will  3^ou  i)i-omise  me  that  you  will  not  tell 
them?"  was  Mr.  IMiles'  inquiry. 

"Indeed  I  shall,  and,  what  is  more,  I  shall  do 
all  in  my  power  to  get  them  to  say  as  little  as  pos- 
sible about  it  in  the  event  of  the  news  being  noised 


MRS.  MILES'  PEARL  NECKLACE    243 

about,"  was  what  I  said  to  the  dejected  man;  for 
I  felt  extremely  sorry  for  him — he  looked  so  white 
and  down-hearted. 

Mr.  Miles  was  about  to  say  something  else,  when 
his  wife  came  towards  us.  She  had  a  pocket-hand- 
kerchief in  her  hand,  and  the  pearl  necklace  was 
inside  of  it. 

' '  Here  is  what  you  want, ' '  the  woman  said. ' '  But 
must  I  really  give  it  up!  Because  I  would  much 
rather  send  it  out  of  the  country  again  if  you  are 
to  seize  it." 

"I  am  afraid  that  it  is  too  late  for  that,"  I  made 
answer.  ''The  Collector  of  the  Port  will  now  have 
to  decide  the  question  of  ownership." 

I  unfolded  the  handkerchief  to  make  sure  that 
the  necklace  was  there.  It  was  a  perfect  beauty. 
A  subsequent  appraisement  showed  that  there 
were  246  pearls  in  all  in  the  necklace,  and  that  it 
could  be  wound  around  the  average  woman's  neck 
four  times,  if  tightly  drawn,  or  be  made  into 
three  strings  if  permitted  to  hang  loosely  on  the 
neck.  The  246  pearls  represented  1,410  grains, 
and  all  were  fastened  by  a  diamond  clasp  at  the 
end.  In  the  center  there  was  an  immense  pearl, 
while  the  others  graduated  in  size  to  form  a  per- 
fect symmetry.  Following  a  hasty  examination 
of  the  necklace,  I  returned  it  to  the  handkerchief 
and  placed  both  in  my  trousers'  pocket.  Then  I 
asked  Mrs.  Miles : 

""What  has  become  of  the  dog-collar  of  pearls 


244   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

which  you  got  from  Tiffany's  in  Paris  on  this 
trip?" 

*'Yoii  are  entirely  mistaken  about  that.  My 
only  purcliase  there  you  have  taken  from  me." 

"What  did  this  pearl  necklace  cost!" 

''I  paid  sixty-five  thousand  francs  for  it." 

Before  we  left  the  ship  to  return  to  the  pier 
Mr.  Miles  asked  me  to  give  him  my  card,  which  I 
did.  It  was  mj  official  card,  and,  pointing  to  the 
Custom  House  address  on  it,  I  said  to  him : 

"I  intend  to  turn  this  necklace  over  to  the  Col- 
lector to-morrow  morning  at  ten  o'clock.  If  you 
will  be  at  his  office  at  that  hour  you  may  make 
any  explanation  you  choose  when  I  formally  sur- 
render the  property." 

Mr.  Miles  thanked  me  and  said  that  he  would  be 
there  at  the  designated  hour.  I  had  been  away 
from  home  for  several  months,  and,  being  anxious 
to  leave  the  pier  with  my  family,  who  had  come 
down  to  welcome  me,  I  liurried  away.  I  kept  the 
necklace  at  my  house  in  Harlem  all  that  night,  and 
this  point  was  the  basis  of  much  criticism  by  the 
opposing  counsel,  who  claimed  that  the  law  re- 
quired me  to  send  the  stuff  to  the  seizure  room 
without  any  delay. 

I  told  the  deputy  collector  as  I  left  the  pier  that 
I  had  seized  the  necklace  and  that  I  intended  to 
communicate  that  fact  by  telephone  to  the  Col- 
lector the  moment  I  reached  my  home.  This  I  did 
through  the  private  secretary  of  that  official,  add- 


MRS.  MILES'  PEARL  NECKLACE     245 

ing  that  I  would  produce  the  property  in  the 
morning. 

It  was  entirely  regular  and  sanctioned  by  cus- 
tom, this  carrying  to  my  home  of  the  seized  neck- 
lace, but  the  legal  talent  employed  by  Mr.  Miles 
pretended  to  think  otherwise.  At  all  events  the 
Collector  thought  that  I  had  fulfilled  my  duty  in 
every  sense  of  the  word,  and  the  opinion  of  the 
lawyers  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Miles  to  the  contrary  was 
for  the  purpose  of  attacking  my  credibility. 

When  I  left  the  pier,  an  official  of  the  Govern- 
ment with  whom  I  had  been  at  variance  for  some 
years  learned  of  the  seizure  by  me,  and  sought 
out  Mrs.  Miles.  He  sympathized  with  her,  and 
by  innuendo  and  cowardly  remarks  tried  to  im- 
press upon  the  woman  that  I  had  been  hasty  in 
making  the  seizure,  and  suggested  that  she  imme- 
diately go  to  the  Collector  about  it.  This  official 
was  afterwards  transferred  to  an  inferior  position 
for  his  malicious  malignity  on  this  occasion. 

His  words  to  Mrs.  Miles  gave  her  the  idea  that 
there  was  a  loophole  for  escape,  and,  being  a 
woman  of  brains,  she  immediately  grasped  the 
opportunity.  First  of  all  she  announced  that  all 
her  trunks  were  not  on  the  pier  when  I  made  the 
seizure,  and  secondly,  she  questioned  my  authority 
in  the  premises.  Mr.  Stevens,  while  not  inclined 
to  be  complimentary  to  me,  dared  not  make  the 
statement  that  I  was  not  vested  with  the  lawful 
right  to  seize  her  property. 


24G    DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

Mrs.  Miles,  however,  had  been  given  her  cue,  as 
they  say  on  the  stage,  and,  thanks  to  Prompter 
Stevens,  she  was  able  to  question  my  actions  when, 
a  half  hour  before  she  left  the  pier,  the  deputy 
collector  again  saw  her.  She  said  to  the  deputy 
collector : 

''What  is  the  position  of  Mr.  Theobald?" 

"He  is  a  special  employee  appointed  by  the 
Treasury  Department,  and,  while  he  works  in  con- 
junction with  the  Collector,  he  is  not  directly  an- 
swerable to  that  official." 

''Had  he  the  right  to  make  this  seizure!"  was 
Mrs.  Miles'  next  question. 

"Yes,  indeed,"  responded  the  deputy.  "This 
or  any  other  seizure." 

Mrs.  Miles  knew  perfectly  well  that  I  had  the 
authority  to  take  her  necklace  away,  but  she  had 
a  purpose  in  making  these  inquiries,  and,  in  addi- 
tion, she  had  a  witness  in  her  husband  to  prove, 
as  she  afterwards  tried  to  do,  that  she  had  doubts 
as  to  giving  up  the  necklace  to  me — for  all  of  which 
the  Government  had  a  certain  inspector  indirectly 
to  thank.  Like  Mr.  Pecksniff  in  his  opinion  of  j\Ir. 
Pinch,  the  inspector  has  disappointed  me;  but  I 
do  not  think  the  worse  of  human  nature  on  that 
account. 

The  night  of  the  day  of  the  seizure,  while  I  was 
entertaining  some  friends  at  home,  I  was  sur- 
prised to  have  a  card  of  Mr.  Miles  handed  to  me. 
I  went  to  the  door  and  found  its  owner  standing 


MRS.  MILES'  PEARL  NECKLACE    247 

on  the  stoop.  I  had  not  given  him  my  home  ad- 
dress, and  his  visit  was  a  puzzle  to  me.  He  told 
me  that  he  had  called  in  regard  to  the  necklace,  to 
ascertain  if  I  could  not  do  something  to  smooth 
the  matter  over.  I  did  not  realize  at  that  time  that 
it  was  a  bait  designed  to  catch  me,  but  I  see  it  all 
now. 

"May  I  come  in?"  Mr.  Miles  asked. 

''I  am  entertaining  some  friends,"  was  my  an- 
swer. "I  will  see  you  in  the  Collector's  office  to- 
morrow morning." 

Mr.  Miles  expressed  great  disappointment,  and 
said  that  if  I  could  give  him  a  few  minutes'  talk 
on  the  street  he  would  consider  it  a  great  favor. 
There  was  a  victoria  standing  at  the  door  waiting 
to  take  my  family  out,  and,  perceiving  what  I  con- 
sidered the  deplorable  condition  of  the  man,  I 
said: 

''Jump  into  that  rig.  I  will  join  you  in  a  mo- 
ment and  drive  you  to  the  '  L '  station. ' ' 

I  drove  Mr.  Miles  to  the  station  of  the  elevated 
railroad,  but  it  never  dawned  upon  me  that  I  was 
doing  something  that  left  me  open  to  criticism  and 
that  the  man  would  take  advantage  of  my  good  in- 
tention. On  the  trial,  however,  the  law^^ers  oppos- 
ing the  Grovernment  endeavored  to  make  capital 
out  of  this  action  of  mine.  Gossip  and  frogs  will 
drink  and  talk,  though,  and  great  stress  was  laid 
on  this  harmless  ride. 

The  morning  after  this  ride  I  went  to  the  Cus- 


248   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

torn  House  and  formally  delivered  the  pearl  neck- 
lace to  Collector  Nevada  N.  Stranaban.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Miles  were  there,  and  were  informed  bj"  the 
Collector  that  the  jewels  would  be  sent  to  the  seiz- 
ure-room because  of  Mrs.  Miles'  action  in  clan- 
destinely introducing  them  into  the  country.  Mr. 
Miles  desired  to  know  how  he  could  recover  the 
property,  and  Mr.  Stranahan  told  him  that  he 
would  have  to  go  to  a  court  of  law. 

Nothing  more  was  said  at  that  time,  and  neither 
Mr.  Miles  nor  his  wife  made  any  attempt  to  show, 
as  both  subsequently  did,  that  there  was  any  desire 
to  avoid  the  payment  of  duty.  It  was  only  after 
they  consulted  counsel  that  they  discovered,  as 
they  thought,  that  it  was  as  easy  as  lying  to  get  the 
stuff  back. 

When  the  necklace  was  sent  to  the  Public  Stores 
it  was  appraised  by  George  W.  Mindil,  an  expert 
in  precious  stones,  who  for  seven  years  previous 
was  Government  examiner,  and  who  for  forty 
years  was  in  the  jewelry  business  in  New  York. 
Mr.  Mindil  placed  the  foreign  value  of  $16,258.60 
on  the  necklace,  which,  adding  the  duty  of  sixty 
per  cent.,  or  $9,755.16,  made  the  home  market 
value  $26,013.76. 

The  defense  protested  against  even  poor  old 
Mindil,  who  in  the  trade  was  regarded  as  being 
without  a  peer  in  his  own  line  of  work.  But,  then, 
the  lawyers  for  the  claiinant  admitted  the  truth 
of  very  little  that  the  Government  set  up.     The 


MRS.  MILES'  PEARL  NECKLACE    249 

Government  was  trying  to  rob  their  angelic  client, 
according  to  the  defense,  and  if  living  there  were 
experts  in  the  question  of  honesty  of  j^urpose,  the 
lawj^ers  of  Mrs.  Miles  truly  posed  as  such.  Their 
endeavors  to  prove  something,  so  long  as  it  was 
something,  reminded  me  of  the  attorney  who  asked 
a  very  worthy  man  what  was  honesty. 

''What  is  that  to  you?"  said  the  worthy  man. 
"Meddle  with  those  things  that  concern  you." 
.     But,  then,  the  worthy  man  could  not  have  made 
such  a  rude  answer  to  any  of  Mrs.  Miles'  attor- 
neys. 


CHAPTER  II 

"When  Beelzebub  first  to  make  mischief  began, 
He  the  woman  attack'd,  and  she  gulled  the  poor  man. 
This  Moses  asserts  and  from  hence  would  infer 
That  woman  rules  man,  and  the  devil  rules  her." 

There  was  a  long  breatliing  space  between  tlie, 
time  of  the  seizure  of  Mrs.  Miles'  necklace  and  the 
ojjening  of  the  trial  seeking  the  return  of  the  prop- 
erty.   The  case  was  heard  before  the  Hon.  

and  a  jury  in  the  United  States  District  Court 


at  New  York.  There  appeared  as  counsel  for  the 
claimant  Lawyer  Moore  and  an  attorney  formerly 
connected  with  the  customs  service.  The  Govern- 
ment was  represented  by  Frank  Condon  and  Roy 
Denby. 

The  trial  began  Xovember  30, 1900,  and  there  was 
a  red-hot  legal  battle  from  start  to  finish.  There 
were  six  counts  in  the  cause  of  action,  but  towards 
the  close  of  the  case  the  attorneys  for  the  Govern- 
ment waived  two  of  the  counts  as  being  unneces- 
sary to  prove  that  Mrs.  Miles  was  guilty  of  "the 
clandestine  introduction  of  a  dutiable  article  with 
the  knowledge  that  it  was  subject  to  the  pajmient 
of  duty,  in  violation  of  Section  3082,  United  States 
Laws." 

250 


MRS.  MILES'  t*EARL  NECKLACE    251 

The  contention  of  the  claimant,  through  her  law- 
yers, was,  that  when  she  made  the  declaration  as 
having  purchased  *' wearing  apparel,  value  un- 
known," she  did  all  that  was  required  by  law,  and 
that  this  very  entry  on  the  declaration  included 
the  pearl  necklace  in  question.  Of  course,  it  was 
a  ridiculous  claim  and  never  could  have  stood  on 
its  own  bottom.  The  defense  did  admit  some 
things,  however.  It  was  conceded  by  Mr.  Moore 
that  the  jewelry  under  seizure  was  dutiable  at 
sixty  per  cent,  ad  valorem,  but  this  eminent  law- 
yer insisted  that  he  reserved  the  right  to  question 
any  appraisement  made  by  the  Government.  It 
was  conceded  that  the  goods  seized  were  not  on  the 
ship's  manifest;  that  the  seizure  was  formally 
adopted  by  the  Collector  of  the  Port ;  and  that  the 
property  at  that  moment  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
Government. 

The  first  witness  examined  in  the  case  was  the 
acting  deputy  collector,  and,  after  a  lengthy  ex- 
planation of  how  he  took  the  declaration  of  Mrs. 
Miles,  the  lawyers  of  that  woman  tried  to  show 
that  the  acting  deputy  was  a  particular  friend  of 
a  particular  friend  of  a  particular  friend  of  mine, 
or  some  other  nonsense  of  that  kind ;  that  the  act- 
ing deputy  and  I  had  a  long  talk  before  he  took 
Mrs.  Miles'  declaration;  and  that  his  passing  me 
the  time  of  day  meant  a  conspiracy  to  get  that 
pearl  necklace  from  the  woman  who  had  it  hidden 
away  on  her  person. 


252   DEFEAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

Although  the  acting  deputy  did  not  prove  to  b6 
a  strenuous  witness,  he  showed  the  lawyers  on  the 
other  side  that  he  could  not  be  bulldozed  into  say- 
ing things  that  were  not  true  or  that  were  irrele- 
vant. 

Mr.  Moore,  in  pleading  the  case,  moved  for  a 
dismissal  of  the  information  and  for  a  direction 
of  a  verdict  in  favor  of  the  claimant  on  the  ground 
that  the  evidence  presented  by  the  Government 
failed  to  support  the  allegations.  As  to  the  first 
count,  the  claimant  contended,  he  said,  that  mere 
acts  of  concealment  did  not  constitute  smuggling 
or  clandestine  introduction  under  Section  2865.  He 
claimed  that  the  evidence  showed  not  only  there 
was  no  concealment,  but  that  the  chain  was,  in 
fact,  mentioned  to  the  customs  official  who  took 
the  claimant's  declaration  on  board  the  ship  when 
she  swore  to  "wearing  apparel,  value  unknown." 

An  attempt  to  get  before  the  court  a  private  re- 
port of  the  seizure  that  I  made  to  Collector  Stran- 
ahan,  as  an  exhibit,  resulted  in  a  wonderful  dis- 
play of  legal  oratory  and  bickering.  This  occurred 
during  the  time  that  Collector  Stranahan  was  on 
the  stand.  That  my  readers  may  fully  understand 
why  the  defense  was  anxious  to  get  this  personal 
report  in  as  evidence  it  is  necessary  to  give  a  ver- 
batim account  of  the  proceedings  which  led  up  to 
it.  The  cross-examination  of  Mr.  Stranahan  was 
by  Mr.  Moore,  and  was  as  follows : 


MRS.  MILES'  PEARL  NECKLACE    253 

Q.  Mr.  Stranahan,  is  Mr.  Theobald  an  appointee 
of  yours"? 

A.  He  is  not. 

Q.  He  is  in  your  office  as  a  subordinate  of 
yours  1 

A.  No. 

Q.  He  is  not? 

A.  No. 

Q.  He  is  an  appointee  of  the  Treasury  Depart- 
ment? 

A.  He  is. 

Q.  And  acts  under  that  department  and  not  un- 
der you? 

A.  My  understanding  is  that  he  is  an  appointee 
of  the  Treasury  Department  and  detailed  to  this 
port,  but  is  not  under  my  direction. 

Q.  Did  Mr.  Theobald  make  a  report  respecting 
this  seizure  to  you  the  day  after  the  seizure  ? 

A.  I  will  refresh  my  recollection.  [After  refer- 
ring to  paper.]    He  did. 

Q.  Have  you  the  paper  there? 

A.  I  have. 

Q.  Please  let  me  see  it. 

By  Mr.  Denby :  I  object  to  it. 

The  Court:  I  rule  that  you  haven't  any  legal 
and  constitutional  right  to  look  at  the  paper.  I  do 
not  rule  now  whether  it  is  or  is  not  admissible  in 
evidence. 

By  Mr.  Moore :   You  ruled,  as  I  understand  it, 


254   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

or  at  least  deferred  the  fiDal  determination  of  the 
matter  until  a  later  stage  of  the  case,  when  you 
would  hear  me  again  on  the  subject. 

The  Court:  I  will  hear  you  again,  if  you  have 
anything  further  to  say,  but  my  view  is  that  a 
mere  notice  to  produce  and  an  actual  production 
in  court  of  a  document  belonging  to  the  Govern- 
ment does  not  give  you  the  right  to  inspect  the 
document. 

By  Mr.  Moore :  I  say  that  I  want  to  inspect  the 
document  because  it  is  germane  to  this  case,  with 
the  view  of  seeing  what  bearing  it  has  on  the  case. 

The  Court:  If  you  want  to  offer  it  in  evidence, 
a  question  will  perhaps  arise,  but  I  do  not  think 
the  papers  of  the  Government  are  open  to  inspec- 
tion. 

By  Mr.  Moore :  I  have  not  seen  the  document, 
but  because  I  am  not  permitted  to  see  it,  and  the 
court  will  not  let  me  see  it,  I  will  offer  it  in  evi- 
dence without  having  seen  it.  I  take  exception  to 
Your  Honor's  refusal  to  allow  me  to  inspect  the 
document  before  offering  it  in  evidence. 

The  Court:  I  do  not  require  you  to  offer  it  in 
evidence. 

By  Mr.  Moore :  I  know  you  do  not,  but  I  offer  it 
in  evidence,  although  I  have  not  seen  it. 

By  Mr.  Denby :  I  object  to  it  as  incompetent  and 
immaterial  for  any  purpose.  It  is  not  pertinent 
to  anything  on  the  direct  examination  of  tliis  wit- 
ness, and  second,  it  is  a  secret  archive  of  the  Gov- 


MRS.  MILES'  PEARL  NECKLACE    255 

ernment  which  every  officer  is  required  to  make 
in  the  performance  of  his  duty,  and  might  contain 
matters  which  would  be  impolitic,  in  a  public 
sense,  to  have  known.  Sometimes  these  reports 
embrace  reports  of  other  things  besides  the  mat- 
ters in  question,  and  it  is  improper  and  it  is  privi- 
leged. 

The  Court :  That  is  the  ground  that  is  troubling 
me.  I  do  not  think  the  other  is  of  much  impor- 
tance. If  this  had  been  offered  at  the  time  Mr. 
Theobald  was  on  the  stand,  a  different  question 
would  have  been  presented  from  that  which  is  pre- 
sented now.  But  Mr.  Moore  at  that  time  only 
asked  to  inspect  the  document  and  did  not  offer 
it  in  evidence  then. 

By  Mr.  Denby:  Even  waiving  the  position  I 
take  about  its  being  a  secret  archive,  yet  they 
would  have  to  show  its  materiality  and  compe- 
tency here,  and  would  have  to  make  him  their  wit- 
ness as  well,  and  be  bound  by  it. 

Perhaps  we  can  simplify  this.  We  are  objecting 
here  for  a  principle,  and  if  it  is  not  to  be  a  prec- 
edent against  the  Government's  rights  to  protect 
its  own  archives,  we  consent  that  they  read  that 
in  evidence  as  a  part  of  their  case.  We  are  glad 
to  have  it. 

By  Mr.  Moore :  I  shall  offer  it  in  evidence,  but 
I  would  like  to  see  it. 

The  Court:  You  shall  offer  it,  of  course.  You 
offer  it  in  evidence,  and  the  District  Attorney  has 


256   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

withdrawn  his  objection  to  the  admissibility  of  the 
document,  and  therefore  it  will  be  received  in  evi- 
dence and  marked  as  an  exhibit  on  the  part  of  the 
claimant. 

Mr.  Moore,  in  his  opening  statement  to  the  jury, 
after  explaining  at  length  the  nature  of  the  counts 
and  the  law  on  the  subject,  said : 

"This  is  not  a  criminal  case  in  the  sense  that  it 
is  a  case  against  the  liberty  of  a  citizen.  This  is 
an  action  brought  to  take  away  and  to  condemn 
the  property  of  a  citizen;  to  deprive  him  of  his 
propert}^  as  a  punishment  for  having  violated  the 
law.  So  that  the  immediate  consequence  of  a  ver- 
dict in  this  case  adverse  to  the  claimant  is  to  take 
away  the  property,  valued  at  sixteen  thousand  dol- 
lars, leaving  her  still  liable,  as  I  understand  it,  for 
the  duty  of  the  article. ' ' 

Examined  by  Mr.  Condon. 

Q.  State  what,  if  any,  position  you  hold  under 
the  Government.  A.  I  am  Collector  of  Customs 
at  the  Port  of  New  York. 

Q.  Were  you  such  Collector  on  the  22d  of  July, 
1902?    A.  I  was. 

Q.  Can  you  state  whether  the  seizure  which  has 
been  testified  to,  as  made  by  Special  Treasury 
Agent  Theobald,  of  the  pearl  necklace  in  evidence, 
was  adopted  by  you? 

Objected  to  as  immaterial,  irrelevant  and  incom- 
petent.   Objection  overruled-    Exceptiou. 

A.  It  was. 


MRS.  MILES'  PEARL  NECKLACE    257 

Q.  Can  you  state  from  your  recollection  the  date 
or  the  approximate  date  of  the  adoption  of  the 
seizure  by  you?  A.  I  could  not  state  positively. 
The  taking  of  the  necklace  by  Mr.  Theobald  was 
on  the  22d  of  July.  My  adoption  was  subsequent 
to  July  30,  and  within  a  day  or  two. 

Q.  The  day  following  the  seizure!  A.  The  day 
following  the  seizure. 

The  Court :  Now,  while  this  has  gone  as  far  as 
it  has,  I  want  to  say  that  for  the  protection  of  the 
'claimant's  rights,  if  you  wish  to  recall  Mr.  Theo- 
bald for  cross-examination  in  view  of  this  report, 
you  can  do  so. 

Mr.  Moore :  Thanks,  Your  Honor. 

Q.  Mr.  Stranahan,  have  you  with  you  the  regu- 
lations issued  by  the  Treasury  Department  on  the 
23d  of  February,  1901,  relative  to  the  examination 
of  passengers'  baggage?  A.  I  believe  I  have  [pro- 
ducing] . 

Mr.  Moore :  I  offer  this  in  evidence.  Rule  five, 
last  paragraph,  is  one  that  is  important. 

Mr.  Condon :  I  object  to  it. 

Q.  (by  Mr.  Denby).  Is  that  a  Treasury  decision 
or  regulation!  A.  Why,  it  is  a  regulation,  I  be- 
lieve. 

Q.  It  has  become  a  regulation !    A.  Yes. 

Q.  Printed,  isn't  it!    A.  I  think  so. 

The  Court :  Do  you  object  to  this ! 

Mr.  Denby:  I  object  to  it.  This  is  a  matter  of 
law  binding  upon  the  customs  officers,  and,  assum- 


258   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

ing  it  is  a  coustructiou  of  these  statutes,  it  is  a 
matter  of  construction  by  you  and  is  not  a  matter 
of  evidence.  It  is  a  matter  of  law  and  is  binding 
upon  the  claimant  as  well  as  the  officers. 

The  Court:  I  think  it  is  the  same  as  a  statute 
of  the  United  States.  Assuming  it  is,  a  statute  of 
the  United  States  would  not  be  admissible  in  evi- 
dence. 

Mr.  Mooro :  It  is  something  which  we  may  refer 
to  as  a  regulation  without  proving  it. 

The  Court:  I  do  not  saj  that.  "Whether  it  is 
law  or  not  is  a  matter  I  want  to  consider,  but  you 
may  embody  whatever  you  wish  in  that  as  a  re- 
quest to  charge. 

Mr.  Moore :  I  want  to  argue  upon  it.  Of  course, 
if  it  is  a  statute  or  regulation  having  the  effect  of 
law,  it  is  a  matter  of  which  the  court  takes  judicial 
notice,  and  we  are  all  at  liberty  to  (^uote  from  it 
as  appropriate  and  germane;  but  if  it  is  not,  it  is 
a  regulation  that  must  be  proved  in  the  case,  and 
there  is  no  other  way  of  referring  to  it,  and  for 
that  reason  I  desire  to  offer  it  in  evidence.  If 
Your  Honor  and  Mr.  Denby  think  it  is  a  statute, 
that  is  my  own  view,  that  these  Treasury  regula- 
tions amount  to  law,  but  to  be  on  the  safe  side  I 
want  to  have  it  in  evidence. 

The  Court:  I  shall  sustain  the  objection. 

Exception  taken  by  Mr.  ]\Ioore. 

Mr.  IMoore :  I  would  like  to  have  this  document 
marked  for  identification. 


MRS.  MILES'  PEARL  NECKLACE    259 

Marked  for  identification  Exliibit  ''C." 

Mr.  Moore :  I  understand  tlie  court  to  base  the 
ruling  on  the  ground  that  it  is  an  untimely  occa- 
sion for  offering  it. 

The  Court:   Oh,  no. 

Q.  (by  Mr.  Moore).  Mr.  Stranahan,  were  the 
regulations  contained  in  that  paper  printed  and 
promulgated!  A.  These  regulations  were  made  in 
1899,  a  long  time  prior  to  my  coming  into  office, 
and  I  never  have  examined  to  see  if  they  are 
printed ;  but  it  is  the  usual  practice,  and  I  presume 
they  are. 

Mr.  Denby:  I  ask  to  have  his  iDresumption 
stricken  out. 

The  Court:   Yes. 

Q.  Don't  you  know  whether  or  not  all  regula- 
tions of  the  Treasury  are  printed  and  promul- 
gated?   A.  Yes,  sir,  I  know  they  are  not  all. 

Q.  Not  all?    A.  No. 

Q.  And  don't  you  know  whether  this  one  was  or 
not?    A.  I  do  not. 

Mr.  Denby:  We  now  ask  Your  Honor  to  find 
that  probable  cause  has  been  made  out  by  the  pros- 
ecution. 

The  Court :  It  is  not  the  time  for  that  yet. 

Mr.  Denby :  I  am  simply  making  it  now  because 
that  was  the  rule  adopted  in  the  Dodge  case,  and 
I  think  it  is  proper  for  the  Government  now  to 
make  its  motion  for  Your  Honor  to  rule  that  there 


260   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

is  probable  cause  for  the  prosecution  at  this  time. 
We  would  like  to  have  a  finding  on  that. 

The  Court:  That  has  already  been  determined 
by  the  court  in  the  refusal  of  motion  to  dismiss. 

Mr.  Denby:  We  desire  to  ]:)ut  the  Government 
in  the  j^roper  shape  of  asking  for  a  ruling  now, 
I  have  a  printed  transcript  of  the  record  of  the 
Dodge  case  in  the  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals,  where 
I  made  a  motion  at  folio  206,  and  after  discussion 
the  court  made  a  finding  to  the  effect  that  probable 
cause  for  the  prosecution  had  been  shown,  and  that 
the  claimants  were  put  to  their  proof. 

The  Court:  On  this  question  of  probable  cause 
should  I  not  hear  the  other  side?  It  may  have 
some  effect  on  the  probable  cause.  A  prima  facie 
case  of  probable  cause  has  doubtless  been  made 
out,  but  there  are  two  sides  to  probable  cause  as 
well  as  to  any  other  matter  of  litigation.  I  will 
reserve  my  ruling  ui)on  that  for  the  i^rescnt, 

Mr.  Moore :  The  District  Attorney  having  called 
other  witnesses  and  introduced  more  evidence,  I 
renew  the  motion  made  yesterday  upon  all  the 
grounds  stated. 

The  Court :  The  same  rulings  and  exceptions. 

The  cross-examination  of  Mrs.  May  Miles 
proves  beyond  a  dou])t  her  intentions  as  given 
below. 

After  Collector  Stranahan  had  left  the  witness 
stand  he  was  followed  by  the  claimant  in  the  case, 
Mrs.  May  Miles.    I  testified  when  I  was  before  the 


MRS.  MILES'  PEARL  NECKLACE    261 

jury  that  Mrs.  Miles  had  the  necklace  secreted  in 
her  stocking  (when  I  took  her  on  board  the 
steamer  after  she  had  disembarked,  and  when  I 
approached  her  on  the  pier  sitting  beside  her  hus- 
band on  a  steamer  trunk).  In  giving  her  testi- 
mony to  the  jury  the  claimant's  attorney  wanted 
to  prove  that  Mrs.  Miles  had  this  pearl  necklace 
around  her  neck,  which  was  covered  by  the  shirt- 
waist offered  in  evidence  and  received  as  the  claim- 
ant's exhibits  to  be  later  produced  in  court. 

This  pearl  necklace  which  I  seized  from  Mrs. 
Miles  contained  246  pearls  from  one  end  to  an- 
other, measuring  one  and  a  half  yards,  or  fifty- 
four  inches.  It  is  not  likely  that  a  woman  would 
want  to  wear  a  necklace  containing  246  pearls 
around  her  neck,  who  had  purchased  it  abroad, 
with  every  intention  in  the  world  to  smuggle  it, 
because  it  would  have  been  a  very  noticeable  fact, 
and  she  would  have  been  approached  not  alone  by 
the  inspector  who  examined  her  baggage,  but  by 
the  lady  inspectresses,  who  are  constantly  on  the 
lookout  for  just  such  a  prize  as  she  would  have 
presented  to  the  eyes  of  these  inspectresses  had 
she  worn  it  around  her  neck. 

The  testimony  that  she  gave  to  the  jury  was  one 
pack  of  lies  from  beginning  to  end.  They  wanted 
to  prove  that  on  the  day  of  the  seizure  I  did  not 
report  it  to  the  Collector.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  I 
telephoned,  in  riding  home  with  my  family  from 
the  Savoy  Hotel,  to  the  Collector  that  I  had  the 


262   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

necklace  in  my  possession,  and  I  wanted  liim 
to  know  that  I  had  made  this  seizure,  and  that  I 
would  bring  it  to  him  the  following  morning  to 
the  Custom  House,  unless  he  decided  to  send  a 
messenger  to  my  house  for  it. 

The  claimant  then  wanted  to  make  a  great  noise 
regarding  this  fact,  namely,  my  taking  this  neck- 
lace to  my  home  (where  it  was  deposited  in  a 
safe  until  the  following  morning,  which  has  been 
a  custom  of  mine  for  a  number  of  years  after 
making  a  seizure.  Having  seized  from  Michael 
Leinkram  twenty-seven  thousand  dollars'  worth 
of  diamonds  on  the  same  steamer  on  which  Prince 
Henry  was  when  he  paid  a  visit  to  America  in 
1901,  those  diamonds  were  taken  to  my  house  on 
a  Saturday  and  kept  there  until  Monday  morning, 
and  when  the  diamonds  were  taken  to  the  Apprais- 
ers' Stores  to  be  appraised  and  weighed,  and  when 
the  claimant  presented  a  bill  of  particulars  in  the 
case  to  prove  the  theft,  there  was  not  as  much  as 
a  grain  missing  from  all  these  diamonds.  It  was 
an  attack  upon  my  honesty,  but  did  not  carry 
weight  with  the  jury.) 

The  case  was  finally  closed  on  both  sides  and 
given  to  the  jury,  who  brought  in  a  verdict  for  the 
Government,  condemning  the  pearl  necklace.  An 
appeal  was  taken  by  the  claimant  and  a  new  trial 
was  ordered  by  the  United  States  Circuit  Court 
of  Appeals  for  the  Second  Circuit  District.  The 
judges,  in  ordering  a  new  trial,  claimed  that  the 


MKS.  MILES'  PEARL  NECKLACE    263 

Government  had  erred  in  many  rulings  of  the 
district  court.  The  case  was  again  tried,  which 
resulted  in  a  verdict  for  Mrs.  Miles.  The  jewelry 
was  then  deported  to  Tiffany  &  Co.  in  Paris. 

Whether  they  ever  were  returned  to  this  country 
by  Mrs.  Miles  I  am  not  in  a  position  to  know.  I 
am  satisfied  in  saying  that  in  losing  this  case  I 
lost  the  best  case  of  smuggling  which  ever  came 
before  my  notice.  To  my  mind  it  was  a  clearer 
case  of  clandestine  entry  than  the  Phyllis  E. 
Dodge  case,  and  it  was  the  only  case,  I  regret  to 
say,  that  I  was  not  successful  in. 


WHY  MIGHT  IS  RIGHT,  AND  WHEN 


CHAPTER  I 

Neither  a  beautiful  woman  nor  the  pull  of  a 
rich  man  is  sufficient  to  interfere  with  the  eternal 
placidity  of  things.  When  there  is  a  combination 
of  both,  as  is  usually  the  case,  a  fierce  attack  upon 
the  object  of  its  wrath  is  the  result ;  but  it  does  not 
always  follow,  however  insistent  some  may  be  to 
the  contrary,  that  wrong  conquers. 

It  seems  to  be  the  law  of  nature  in  these  days 
of  brass  that  a  woman  should  be  beautiful,  and 
as  beauty  is  inseparable  from  the  desire  for  finery, 
it  is  equally  as  natural  that  she  should  be  content 
with  no  one  but  a  rich  man. 

I  met  such  a  woman  in  Phyllis  E.  Dodge.  Com- 
missioned to  do  an  im])ortant  thing  abroad  for  the 
Government,  I  embarked,  April  11,  1S98,  on  the 
steamer  Kaiser  Wilhelm  der  Grosse.  I  made  many 
acquaintances  during  the  trip,  and  among  them 
was  a  member  of  the  New  York  Stock  Exchange, 
who  is  now  dead.  He  was  a  young  man,  clever  and 
generous,  and  able,  whenever  necessary,  to  stir 
the  blood  of  Wall  Street  to  its  profoundest  depths ; 
yet,  like  many  great  men  who  have  gone  before 
him,  he  was  as  weak  as  a  sick  kitten  every  time  a 

264 


WHY  MIGHT  IS  RIGHT,  AND  WHEN  265 


certain  pair  of  sparkling  eyes  were  focused  upon 
him,  which  was  too  often  for  his  good. 

These  mirrors  of  a  blackened  soul  were  on  that 
ship,  too,  and  it  did  not  take  me  long  to  discover 
that  love  was  a  weary  word  to  this  Avoman  and 
that  the  man's  love  consisted  of  physical  fire  only. 
It  was  plain  that  he  had  a  lesson  to  learn.  I  knew 
the  young  man's  father  very  well  and  felt  deeply 
for  them  both. 

Aside  from  the  fact  that  nearly  everybody  on 
the  shijD  knew  intuitively  that  Phyllis  E.  Dodge 
was  not  the  young  man's  wife,  few  could  but  ad- 
mire the  woman.  She  was  tall  and  stately,  a  pro- 
nounced brunette,  with  black  eyes  that  reminded 
me  of  a  famous  line  in  which  those  kind  of  optics 
were  coupled  with  the  de'il,  and  with  a  vivacity 
that  swept  everything  before  her.  She  charmed 
and  captivated  everybody  at  will,  and  once,  at  a 
race  track  in  England,  when  she  was  gowned  in 
a  most  bewitching  Parisian  costume,  she  had  an 
army  of  light-headed  Britons  ready  to  lay  down 
their  lives  for  her. 

As  an  additional  traveling  companion  to  this 
wealthy  young  man  was  a  diamond  broker,  whose 
father  some  few  years  before  was  closely  identified 
with  a  scheme  to  defraud  the  Government  by 
smuggling  precious  stones  from  Europe  into  the 
States  by  way  of  the  borders  of  Canada.  The 
young  diamond  broker  was,  in  turn,  accompanied 
by  two  women.    I  had  no  trouble  in  learning  the 


2G6   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

general  reputation  of  the  five,  and  I  likewise  was 
not  surprised  to  be  informed  that  it  was  very  bad. 
The  Wall  Street  man  with  Mrs.  Dodge,  and  the 
diamond  broker  with  the  other  two  women,  occu- 
pied one  of  the  smaller  tables  in  the  saloon  at 
meal-times.  They  were  the  gayest  people  on  the 
ship,  and  flaunted  their  fine  feathers  as  only  those 
lost  to  shame  can  do. 

When  the  Kaiser  Wilhelm  der  Grosse  reached 
Cherbourg,  the  banker,  the  diamond  merchant  and 
the  three  women  departed  on  the  tender,  and  I 
heard  the  wine  steward  sigh.  Their  going  was 
a  deep  loss  to  him.  France  received  them  with 
open  arms;  they  were  of  her  kind.  I  forgot  all 
about  them  ten  minutes  after  they  were  gone,  and 
might  not  have  given  them  another  thought  had 
it  not  been  for  some  information  I  received  a  few 
days  later  in  London. 

A  part  of  my  mission  abroad  was  to  have  a  con- 
ference with  Major  Williams,  a  special  agent  of  the 
United  States  Treasury  Department,  in  charge  in 
Europe, with  headquarters  in  Paris.  Iliad  intended 
to  remain  in  London  ten  days,  but,  learning  that  a 
young  American  banker,  who  was  in  company  with 
a  woman  named  Dodge,  had  purchased  in  Paris,  a 
few  days  before,  a  piece  of  jewelry,  called  a  stom- 
acher, at  a  cost  of  three  hundred  thousand  francs, 
or  about  sixty  thousand  dollars  in  American 
money,  I  determined  to  curtail  my  stay  in  the  Eng- 
lish capital  and  run  across  the  channel  to  see 


.     WHY  MIGHT  IS  RIGHT,  AND  WHEN  267 

Major  AVilliams.  The  latter  assisted  me  for  the 
three  following  days  in  making  a  tour,  but  we  were 
assured  that  no  such  dream  of  the  jeweler's  art 
as  described  had  been  purchased.  So  we  dropped 
the  matter. 

About  a  week  after  I  met  some  friends  at  the 
Cafe  de  Paris,  and  one  of  them  invited  me  to  call 
on  an  acquaintance  at  the  Hotel  Maribout.  It  was 
about  ten-thirty  in  the  evening  when  we  reached 
there,  and  my  friend,  who  was  a  New  York  mer- 
chant, sent  up  his  card  with  a  note  saying  he  would 
call  again  at  some  more  seasonable  hour.  The 
page  brought  back  a  message  asking  that  we  go 
up  to  the  apartment,  if  only  for  a  few  minutes.  I 
had  not  asked  my  friend  as  to  whom  he  wished  to 
pay  his  respects,  and  was  greatly  surprised  when 
I  entered  to  find  myself  in  the  presence  of  Phyllis 
E.  Dodge.  She  was  attired  in  the  most  gorgeous 
evening  dress  that  I  have  ever  beheld.  With  her 
at  the  time  was  the  young  banker  (to  whom  I  have 
already  referred)  and  a  tourist  who  had  come 
over  on  the  Kaiser  Wilhelm  with  us. 

Now,  this  brunette,  who  was  five  feet  seven 
inches  tall,  was  an  extremely  vain  woman.  It  was 
the  unsatisfied  yearning  of  the  heart  that  induced 
her,  half  an  hour  after  we  had  arrived,  to  say : 

''I  want  to  show  you,  gentlemen,  the  handsom- 
est piece  of  jewelry  that  ever  graced  the  body  of 
a  beautiful  woman.  And  I  am  beautiful,  am  I 
not?    Just  as  if  you  dare  to  say  anything  else !" 


268   DEFEAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

There  was  a  scurry  of  silken  robes  for  an  in- 
stant, and  this  "affinity"  disappeared  into  an  ad- 
joining apartment  and  presently  returned  with 
the  identical  stomacher  that  was  so  accurately  de- 
scribed to  me  in  London.  It  was  the  most  dazzling 
article  of  adornment  I  had  ever  seen.  It  could 
be  so  subdivided  that  part  of  it  might  be  used  as 
a  tiara  for  the  hair.  There  were  no  less  than 
three  hundred  diamonds  in  it,  more  than  one  hun- 
dred emeralds  and  about  seventy-five  pearls. 

I  forgot  the  magnetic  influence  of  the  woman  in 
the  grandeur  of  the  ornamentation  that  was 
passed  to  me.  I  examined  it  most  carefully,  and, 
being  a  fairly  good  judge  of  stones,  readily  noticed 
that  all  were  of  good  size  and  excellent  color.  At 
the  end  of  the  stomacher  there  was  a  drop  pearl, 
pear-shaped,  and  I  could  not  help  making  a  men- 
tal note  that  for  brilliancy  and  color  I  had  never 
seen  its  equal.  This  pearl  was  nearly  an  inch  in 
length. 

"It  is  a  present  from  a  dear  friend,"  said  the 
delectable  woman  of  the  world,  with  one  of  her 
sweetest  smiles.  "It  cost  a  pretty  penny,  too. 
But  it  is  none  too  good  for  me,  think  you?" 

This  was  said  with  an  archness  that  was  part  of 
her  very  existence.  I  never  fully  realized  until 
then  the  meaning  of  silence  being  strength.  Here 
was  a  woman  who  was  a  match  for  the  best  man 
alive  when  it  came  to  cunning  or  perspicacity,  yet 


WHY  MIGHT  IS  RIGHT,  AND  WHEN  269 

she  was  splicing  a  rope  that  would  probably  hang 
her,  and  she  little  dreamed  that  I  might  be  her 
executioner,  as  I  really  expected  to  be,  considering 
the  fact  that  I  felt  morally  certain  she  would  make 
no  attempt  to  pay  duty  on  that  precious  stomacher 
when  she  returned  to  the  States.  But  I  did  not 
tell  her  what  I  was  then  thinking,  and,  faith !  I  did 
not  know  her  thoughts,  for  which  latter  condition 
of  affairs  I  am  not  sorry.  The  next  time  I  saw 
this  human  siren  was  on  the  steamer  St.  Paul, 
coming  up  New  York  Bay. 

I  came  back  from  Paris  by  way  of  Switzerland, 
after  transacting  some  official  business  in  this  Eu- 
ropean center,  and  reached  the  metropolis  early 
in  June.  I  was  dining  at  a  friend's  the  Sunday 
after  my  arrival,  when  he  handed  me  a  slip  of 
paper,  saying: 

' '  Here  is  the  name  of  a  lady  who  is  a  friend  of 
a  dear  friend  of  mine,  and  if  you  will  get  her  the 
courtesy  of  the  port  I  shall  appreciate  it  veiy 
much. ' ' 

I  bowed  and  put  the  paper  in  my  pocket  without 
even  glancing  at  the  name.  It  was  not  until  I 
reached  home  that  I  discovered  that  the  request 
my  friend  had  made  was  in  behalf  of  Phyllis  E. 
Dodge.  I  lost  no  time  the  next  day  in 
seeking  my  friend  and  informing  him  that 
I  would  not,  under  any  condition,  ask  the 
courtesy  of  the  port  for  Mrs.  Dodge.  He  did  not 
demand  any  explanation  and  I  volunteered  none. 


270   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

A  few  days  later  I  was  waited  upon  by  the  young 
man  who  had  accompanied  Mrs.  Dodge  abroad, 
but  who  had  returned  before  her.  His  mission 
was  to'  get  me  to  use  my  influence  in  having  cour- 
tesies extended  to  Mrs.  Dodge  when  she  arrived. 

' '  Indeed,  I  shall  not, ' '  I  said.  '  *  All  the  influence 
in  the  world  would  not  induce  me  to  do  so." 

He  wanted  to  know  why,  and  I  said  that  infor- 
mation had  been  lodged  with  the  Government 
against  the  woman,  but  I  did  not,  for  business  rea- 
sons, tell  him  that  I  had  lodged  the  information. 

''Why,"  said  the  young  banker,  "the  informa- 
tion is  a  cigarette  dream.  If  any  purchases  have 
been  made  by  Mrs.  Dodge,  they  will  consist  of  a 
few  dresses  and  nothing  more.  I  will  give  my 
personal  guarantee  that  she  has  bought  nothing 
else." 

Mrs.  Dodge  came  in  on  the  St.  Paul,  June  24,  and 
with  a  special  agent  whom  I  had  taken  into  my 
confidence  I  proceeded  down  to  Quarantine  to  in- 
tercept the  ship  before  she  reached  her  pier.  I 
pointed  out  Mrs.  Dodge  to  the  special  agent  and 
instructed  him  as  to  what  to  do.  I  was  anxious 
that  he  should  make  no  attempt  to  talk  to  the 
woman  about  any  jewelry  or  the  like  until  after 
the  craft  had  berthed  and  her  baggage  had  been 
placed  on  the  wharf  and  duly  inspected.  I  wanted 
to  remain  in  the  background  for  obvious  reasons. 

I  had  no  suspicion  that  my  instructions  would 
not  be  faithfully  carried  out,  or  that  the  investi- 


.WHY  MIGHT  IS  RIGHT,  AND  WHEN  271 

gation  of  the  woman's  baggage  would  be  anything 
but  regular.  But  time  opens  many  graves,  and 
even  at  the  distance  I  was  from  the  location  of 
Mrs.  Dodge's  trunks  I  could  see  that  the  special 
agent  was  altogether  too  much  interested  in  the 
woman  whose  arrival  I  had  been  patiently  wait- 
ing. Her  friend,  who  was  also,  but  differently, 
interested  in  her  coming,  arrived  on  the  pier  a  few 
moments  before  she  came  ashore,  and  subsequent- 
ly I  noticed  that  he  was  in  close  consultation  with 
the  special  agent. 

What  was  clearly  a  perfunctory  examination  of 
the  luggage  followed,  and  with  its  completion  the 
inspector  who  performed  it  went  after  an  ap- 
praiser. The  latter,  with  the  inspector  and  the 
sjiecial  agent,  hovered  about  the  trunks  for  a  few 
minutes  and  then  came  over  to  where  I  was  with 
the  information  'that  the  stomacher  was  not  in  the 
baggage,  and  that  all  the  other  pieces  of  jewelry 
which  Mrs.  Dodge  had  with  her  were  old.  All 
three  officials  agreed  upon  these  points. 

I  immediately  went  across  the  pier,  determined 
to  handle  Mrs.  Dodge  without  gloves.  I  de- 
manded to  see  her  jewelry.  She  had  a  valise 
in  her  hand  and  replied  that  her  jewels 
were  in  that.  I  took  the  valise  from  her  and 
oj^ened  it,  removing  a  jewel  casket.  The  special 
agent  and  inspector  seemed  unable  to  talk  when 
I  pulled  this  casket  out.  The  box  contained,  in 
addition  to  a  pearl  necklace,  a  collarette  or  dog- 


272   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

collar  of  pearls  and  a  number  of  other  pieces  of 
jewelry.  The  necklace  was  made  up  of  sixty-one 
pearls  of  enormous  size  and  brilliancy  and  had  a 
diamond  and  pigeon  blood  ruby.  The  collarette 
had  eleven  strands  of  pearls,  five  bars  of  diamonds 
holding  the  strands  together.  When  I  had  finished 
an  examination  of  the  contents  of  the  jewel  casket 
her  friend  stepped  up  and  asked  me  what  I  in- 
tended to  do  with  the  valuables. 

''They  have  not  been  declared,  according  to 
law,"  I  said,  "and  must  be  seized." 

His  face  turned  livid  with  rage,  and  he  was  un- 
able to  talk  for  a  full  moment,  but  he  finally 
shouted : 

"You  don't  dare  to  seize  this  stuff.  Do  you 
know  who  I  am ! ' ' 

' '  Perfectly, ' '  I  replied.  ' '  You  are  a  millionaire, 
with  might  on  your  side.  I  am  simply  a  servant 
of  this  Government,  but  I  have  right  to  back  me. 
I  mean  to  seize  this  property,  and,  aside  from  my 
superior  officer,  there  is  not  a  man  alive  who  can 
prevent  me. ' ' 

"I'll  make  you  suffer  for  this.  I'll  put  you  out 
of  the  service." 

It  was  my  turn  to  get  angry.  "If  you  impede 
me  in  the  slightest  way,"  I  said  to  him,  "I'll  turn 
you  over  to  an  inspector,  with  instructions  to  ar- 
rest you  for  interfering  with  a  Government  officer. 
I  am  not  dealing  with  you,  and  I  do  not  fear  your 


WHY  MIGHT  IS  RIGHT,  AND  WHEN   273 

money  any  more  than  I  do  your  infiuence  or  your 
threats." 

Then,  turning  to  Mrs.  Dodge,  I  asked  her  what 
had  become  of  the  stomaclier  which  she  had  sliown 
me  in  Paris. 

' '  I  did  not  take  it, ' '  she  said  naively.  ' '  I  did  not 
like  it,  you  see,  and  returned  it  to  the  jeweler's, 
taking  these  two  pearl  necklaces  instead." 

Her  friend  tried  to  interrupt  the  woman,  going 
so  far  as  to  say,  "Don't  tell  him  anything.  I'll 
take  care  of  him." 

But  she  would  not  take  his  advice,  remarking: 
^'Wliat's  the  use?  He  probably  knows  more  than 
you  think,"  which  was  the  truest  word  she  ever 
spoke,  although  I  am  rather  inclined  to  the  belief 
that  she  was  not  always  on  terms  of  the  closest 
intimacy  with  the  truth. 

About  this  point  of  the  scene  on  the  pier  the 
deputy  surveyor,  in  charge  of  the  inspectors  at  the 
dock,  arrived  on  the  ground  and  asked  the  special 
agent,  with  whom  I  had  conferred  so  many  days 
and  upon  whom  I  largely  depended  for  assistance, 
if  he  would  assume  the  responsibility  of  the 
seizure. 

' '  Not  if  I  know  it ! "  he  exclaimed,  looking  away 
from  me. 

''How  about  you?"  inquired  the  deputy  sur- 
veyor, addressing  me.  ''Will  you  assume  the  re- 
sponsibility of  this  affair?" 

"Yes,  indeed,"  I  replied.     "I  would  have  no 


274   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

hesitancy  in  doing  so  if  it  were  twenty  times  as 
big  a  case.  Aside  from  doing  my  duty,  I  want  to 
show  this  man  that  I  do  not  care  a  rap  for  his 
millions." 

I  was  dumfounded  at  this  juncture  by  the  spe- 
cial agent  clapping  his  hands  with  joy  and  shout- 
ing that  he  would  share  the  responsibility  with  me. 

I  turned  my  back  on  him.  So  did  the  majority 
of  his  friends  when  they  heard  the  story.  He 
never  explained  his  peculiar  actions  of  that  day, 
and  I  am  afraid  he  would  have  been  unable  to  do 
so  if  asked. 

The  jewels  were  brought  to  the  Collector  the 
following  morning  and  were  then  taken  to  the  Ap- 
praiser's room.  The  best  experts  of  the  city  were 
summoned  to  pass  judgment  upon  the  necklace 
and  collarette,  and  they  were  appraised  at  sixty- 
four  thousand  dollars.  How  reliable  was  this 
judgment  may  be  imagined  from  the  fact  that 
when  the  Government  sent  me  abroad  the  follow- 
ing August  to  ascertain  how  much  was  paid  for 
the  jewelry,  the  manufacturer  who  sold  it  to  Mrs. 
Dodge  showed  me  his  books,  and  the  figures  varied 
only  two  per  cent,  from  the  official  appraisement. 

Before  recounting  the  result  of  the  legal  battles 
for  the  possession  of  these  jewels,!  want  to  say  that 
while  some  had  doubt  as  to  the  honesty  of  the  spe- 
cial agent  who  was  on  the  pier  when  the  property 
was  seized,  I  had  none.  I  do  not  think  he  received 
a  penny  for  his  peculiar  actions  on  that  day.    He 


WHY  MIGHT  IS  RIGHT,  AND  AVHEN   275 

was,  like  many  others  in  the  service,  afraid  of  the 
millionaire,  and  the  fear  of  getting  into  trouble 
blinded  him  to  his  duty.  He  was  simply  a  chunk- 
headed  fool,  and  that  was  all. 

There  were  many  remarkable  features  of  the 
trial,  and  there  were  many  surprised,  including 
myself.  I  knew  what  to  expect  of  Phyllis  E.  Dodge. 
I  knew  that  she  had  the  natural  art  of  the  actress, 
and  although  she  had  never  been  on  the  stage,  as 
far  as  official  knowledge  went,  still  she  was  the 
peer  of  scores  back  of  the  footlights  in  serenity, 
piquancy,  facetiousness  and  artificiality.  She  al- 
ways made  a  study  of  her  victim,  and  did  it  thor- 
oughly and  diplomatically,  as  every  human  spider 
should. 

I  did  not  know  what  to  expect  of  her  millionaire 
lover,  however,  and,  notwithstanding  many  official 
reassurances  from  Washington,  I  felt  satisfied 
that  he  would  attempt  some  tricks.  But,  believing 
in  the  old  saw  of  '' Unsafe  are  things  that  are  dis- 
graceful," I  was  serene  in  the  belief  that  right 
would  prevail. 

The  case  was  called  for  trial  on  June  12,  1900, 
or  nearly  two  years  after  the  seizure.  There  was 
a  notable  array  of  talent  on  both  sides,  S.  E. 
Smithers  and  T.  F.  Carey  appearing  for  the  de- 
fendants, and  General  Wellington  with  several  of 
his  assistants  defending  the  Government. 

Mrs.  Dodge  showed  her  hand  the  moment  she 
stepped  into  court.    She  was  stunningly  arrayed 


276   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

in  a  gown  of  immaculate  white;  diamonds  glis- 
tened at  her  ears  and  throat,  and  a  picture  hat, 
which  was  the  envy  of  every  woman  who  saw  it, 
adorned  her  well-poised  head.  She  was  clearly 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  women  to  be  seen  in  a 
whole  day's  walk,  and,  as  she  flashed  her  dark 
eyes  coquettishly  around,  there  were  few  who 
could  resist  giving  her  more  than  one  glance. 

The  millionaire  friend  was  not  there.  Mrs. 
Dodge  did  not  lavish  any  great  attention  upon  any 
one.  She  knew  she  had  him  safe  under  her  thumb, 
and  there  was  no  necessity  for  public  acting,  so 
far  as  he  was  concerned.  There  were  twelve  men 
in  a  charmed  box  that  Mrs.  Dodge  was  anxious 
to  please,  and  in  little,  subtle  ways  she  showered 
her  attention  upon  them. 

At  rare  intervals  only,  during  the  five  days  in 
which  the  trial  lasted,  did  the  woman  fail  to  shoot 
her  winsome  glances  at  the  men  who  were  to  de- 
cide her  case,  and  there  is  no  denying  that  this 
fusillade  of  eyes — black,  lascivious  eyes — ^had 
many  willing  targets.  The  attorneys  for  the  wom- 
an did  everything  they  could  to  prove  that  she  had 
means  and  was  accustomed  to  everything  within 
reach  of  a  woman  of  large  means. 

It  was  most  outrageous,  but  it  went  on  the  court 
records  as  gospel  truth,  and  there  you  are!  To 
establish  this  belief  in  the  mind  of  the  jury  the  de- 
fendant's counsel  exhibited  photographs  of  Mrs. 
Dodge  in  evening  costumes.    In  all  of  the  pictures 


WHY  MIGHT  IS  RIGHT,  AND  WHEN  277 

the  necklace  under  seizure  was  shown  as  having 
been  worn  by  her  while  being  photographed. 

The  lawyers  in  her  behalf  contended  that  her 
position  in  life  was  consistent  with  whatever  pur- 
chases she  made  abroad.  The  Government  proved 
that  the  seized  property  was  purchased  by  her 
friend  and  presented  to  her  by  him;  that  Phyllis 
E.  Dodge  had  no  means  of  her  own;   that  the 

house  she  occupied  on Street,  New  York  City, 

was  purchased  for  her  from  the  actor,  Richard 
Mansfield,  by  her  friend  and  presented  to  her  by 
him. 

It  was  clearly  established  that,  aside  from  being 
the  owner  of  this  piece  of  property,  the  woman 
had  no  wealth  and  no  other  possible  means  of  sup- 
port. The  law,  it  was  shown  by  General  Welling- 
ton, was  black  and  white  on  the  question  of  pres- 
ents. The  law  specifies,  and  is  quite  conclusive  on 
the  subject,  that  presents  of  whatsoever  nature 
are  dutiable  at  whatever  the  tariff  calls  for,  and 
these  goods  were  clearly  dutiable,  having  been  pre- 
sented to  her.  To  me,  one  of  the  first  surprises 
of  the  trial  was  when  the  Government  did  not  call 
me  to  the  stand  to  testify.  I,  above  all,  felt  con- 
fident of  being  able  to  show  intent  to  defraud. 

Contrary  to  the  wishes  of  her  counsel,  Mrs. 
Dodge  insisted  upon  being  put  on  the  stand.  She 
had  an  eye  battery  in  reserve  and  wanted  to  use 
it.  She  began  her  testimony  with  an  untruth,  say- 
ing that  while  the  ship  was  coming  up  the  bay  she 


278   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

went  below  to  the  saloon  and  sat  next  to  the  cus- 
tom house  inspector,  "who  gave  me  a  blank  to  fill 
out."  She  insisted  that  this  was  correct,  when 
cross-examined.  To  use  her  own  words,  I  will 
give  the  remainder  of  the  testimony  as  follows : 

* '  The  inspector  asked  me  what  I  had  purchased 
abroad,  and  I  wrote,  'Some  linens.'  I  think  it  was 
six  hundred  and  fifty  francs'  worth,  but  I  am  not 
positive.  Then  he  asked  me  if  I  had  purchased 
anything  else,  and  I  said,  'No,  I  don't  think  so; 
but,  suddenly  remembering,  I  again  made  answer, 
'Oh,  yes,  I  did,  too — a  little  dog  and  a  trunk.'  He 
told  me  that  I  would  not  have  to  declare  the  trunk, 
but  that  the  dog  was  in  all  probability  dutiable. 
I  told  him  how  much  the  dog  had  cost  and  declared 
it.  Then  he  asked  me  if  I  had  bought  anything 
else,  and  I  replied  in  the  negative.  He  then  gave 
me  a  ticket,  and  I  came  away." 

In  reply  to  questions  from  Mr.  Carey,  her  coun- 
sel, Mrs.  Dodge  said  that  when  she  came  off  the 
ship  with  the  valise  in  her  hand  she  did  not  know 
that  presents  were  dutiable.  She  admitted  that 
the  valise  contained,  in  addition  to  the  necklace 
and  collarette,  the  following  articles: 

One  spray  pin,  one  turquoise  bracelet,  one  dia- 
mond chain  bracelet,  two  diamond  rings,  one  emer- 
ald and  diamond  ring,  one  ruby  buttertiy,  one  dia- 
mond catch-pin,  one  diamond  scarfpin  and  a  set 
of  pearl  buttons  which  were  studded  with  dia- 
monds and  intended  for  a  full-dress  vest.    These 


WHY  MIGHT  IS  RIGHT,  AND  WHEN   279 

pearl  buttons  were  pronounced  by  connoisseurs  to 
be  the  most  perfect  and  beautiful  collection  that 
they  had  ever  seen.  They  were  in  a  most  costly 
box  within  the  jewel  casket,  and  are  referred  to 
specially  because  it  was  charged  that  she  had 
brought  them  over  as  a  present  to  the  millionaire 
friend.  Her  own  attorney  asked  if  this  statement 
were  not  true,  putting  his  query  in  this  way : 

' '  Did  you  state  that  the  buttons  in  this  box  were 
intended  as  a  present  for  Mr. T' 

Mrs.  Dodge  replied  that  she  had  never  made  a 
statement  of  that  kind.  Literally  speaking,  she 
went  all  to  pieces  when  General  Wellington  took 
her  in  hand.  Her  answers  were  at  first  either  non- 
committal or  evasive,  and  there  was  a  merry  twin- 
kle in  her  eye  every  time  she  scored  a  hit.  But 
there  existed  certain  facts  that  no  quibbling  in  the 
world  could  get  around,  and  Mrs.  Dodge  was  finally 
obliged  to  admit  that  everything  she  had  brought 
with  her  on  the  trip  in  question  was  dutiable.  She 
was  asked  if  she  personally  purchased  any  of  the 
jewels,  or  whether  her  own  money  was  used  in  pay- 
ment for  them,  and  she  evaded  the  question  by  an- 
swering that  she  did  not  know  they  were  dutiable. 

General  Wellington  is  as  gallant  as  the  knights 
of  old,  but  he  is  matter-of-fact,  for  all  that,  and 
he  could  not  possibly  let  this  woman  dodge  the 
question.  He  pressed  her  for  an  answer,  and  she 
fled  behind  the  protection  of  "I  do  not  know." 


280   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

Q.  Now,  Mrs.  Dodge,  you  have  heard  the  testi- 
mony of  the  witnesses  here,  have  you  not? 

A.' Yes. 

Q.  You  have  been  present  throughout  the  trial? 

A.  Yes. 

Q.  You  heard  the  testimony  as  to  the  officer  put- 
ting his  hand  on  these  things  and  saying,  "If  you 
do  not  seize  them,  I  will"? 

A.  Yes. 

Q.  How  long  after  your  coming  off  the  vessel 
did  that  happen? 

A.  Oh,  not  very  long;  almost  directly  after. 

The  Court:   That  was  Mr.  Theobald,  wasn't  it? 

Mr.  Carey :  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  Now,  will  you  state  whether  you  knew  at 
the  time  you  came  off  the  boat  with  this  bag  that 
the  contents  of  it  or  any  of  them  were  dutiable? 

Objected  to  as  incompetent,  immaterial  and  ir- 
relevant under  the  pleading  and  under  the  statute. 
Objection  overruled.    Exception  taken. 

A.  Well,  I  simply  did  not  think  that  presents 
were  dutiable  and  I  did  not  declare  them.    As  for 

those  little  things  I  brought,  well,  I  told  Mr. 

that  that  was  workmanship,  and  he  said  that  was 
dutiable,  and  I  said  I  was  willing  to  pay  it,  and  he 
walked  away  and  didn't  say  anything  more  to  me 
at  all.  They  took  everything.  I  simply  did  not 
think  a  present  was  dutiable.  I  didn't  know  how 
much  it  was  worth,  in  the  first  place. 

Q.  Mrs.  Dodge,  did  you  hear  the  testimony  of 


WHY  MIGHT  IS  RIGHT,  AND  WHEN    281 

Mr.  ,  and  whichever  other  testified  to  that, 

that  you  told  him  that  everything  you  had  in  the 
way  of  jewelry  in  this  bag  had  been  taken  by  you 
out  of  the  United  States?  Did  you  ever  make  any 
statement  of  that  kind  to  him? 

A.  I  did  not,  sir. 

Q.  Did  you  state  to  any  of  these  witnesses  that 
tlie  pearls  in  this  expensive  pearl  necklace  had 
been  taken  by  you  abroad  to  be  strung? 

A.  I  did  not. 

Q.  Did  you  state  to  Mr.  or  anybody  else 

that  these  buttons  in  this  box  were  intended  as  a 
present  for  a  friend  ? 

A.  Certainly  not. 

Q.  Now,  with  regard  to  these  buttons,  what  is 
their  use — for  what  purj)ose  were  they  bought  or 
made? 

A.  Shirt  buttons,  and  studs  and  cuff  buttons. 

Q.  Are  they  such  as  are  worn  on  ladies'  shirt- 
waists or  cuffs  ? 

A.  Certainly. 

Q.  I  will  ask  jou  this  direct  question,  and  you 
need  not  answer  it  until  the  gentlemen  on  the 
other  side  have  had  an  opportunity  to  make  their 
objection.  Did  you  at  the  time  you  came  off  the 
dock  with  this  bag  in  your  hand  have  any  intent  to 
defraud  the  United  States  out  of  any  duties  to 
which  it  was  entitled? 

Objected  to  as  incompetent,  immaterial  and  ir- 
relevant.   Objection  overruled.    Exception  taken. 


282   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

^A.  I  certainly  had  no  sucli  intention  whatever. 

The  Court :  I  am  not  quite  clear  what  she  said 
about  this  first  box  of  buttons,  which  was  the  first 
subject  referred  to.  She  had  a  lot  of  old  things, 
and  a  jeweler  in  Paris  made  them  up,  and  she  told 

Mr,  that,  and  he  said  there  was  a  duty  on 

workmanship.  Those  are  the  buttons  first  spoken 
of. 

Mr.  Wellington:  A  part  of  the  diamonds  in 
these  buttons  was  in  old  jewelry,  and  she  took 
those  diamonds  and  went  to  an  artificer  in  Paris. 

The  Witness :  He  made  them  into  the  buttons ;  he 
sent  me  a  bill  for  two  hundred  and  eighty  dollars. 

By  the  Court : 

Q.  Is  there  much  value  in  these  diamonds  except 
the  workmanship? 

A.  Just  the  workmanship.  The  diamonds  are 
only  little  roses,  anyway.  They  don't  amount  to 
anything. 

The  Court:  How  many  buttons  are  there  there? 

Mr.  Wellington:   Thirteen. 

Q  What  are  they  set  in? 

A.  Just  in  porcelain. 

Q.  Common  porcelain  buttons? 

A.  With  the  exception  of  the  little  diamonds; 
but  it  is  the  workmauslii])  that  is  expensive. 

Q.  The  workmanship  is  setting? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  Those  crosses  are  diamonds,  also? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 


WHY  MIGHT  IS  EIGHT,  AND  WHEN    283 

Q.  Was  it,  in  fact,  designed  as  a  present  to  your 
friend? 

A.  Certainly  not. 

Cross-examination  by  Mr.  Wellington. 

Q.  About  this  ring — you  are  not  sure  whether 
there  were  any  of  the  diamonds  in  that  that  you 
brought  over?  [showing  turquoise  scarf  ring], 

A.  Oh,  yes,  I  am  sure  there  were  some  of  them ; 
how  many  I  don't  know. 

Q.  How  is  it  that  you  are  sure  there  were  some? 

A.  Because  the  man  told  me  had  a  few  left  and 
he  would  make  me  up  a  scarf  ring,  so  I  told  him 
to  go  ahead  and  do  it. 

Q.  How  do  you  know  that  they  are  not  all  those 
that  you  furnished  ? 

A.  They  may  have  been;  I  don't  know. 

Q.  You  don't  know  anything  about  it? 

A.  I  know  some  of  them  are  mine,  and  they  may 
be  all  mine.  I  know  what  I  paid  for  the  thing 
when  finished. 

Q.  What  was  the  amount! 

A.  Sixty-five  dollars. 

Q.  You  knew  that  you  had  purchased  these  arti- 
cles, as  in  this  completed  form,  abroad? 

A.  Well,  I  thought  it  was  workmanshij^,  and  I 
did  not  know  there  was  duty  on  workmanship,  and 

I  asked  Mr.  on  the  wharf   as   soon  as   I 

landed. 

Q.  When  you  were  making  your  declaration  on 
board  the  ship  did  j^ou  mention  these  articles? 


284   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

A.  I  was  not  asked  then  if  I  had  bought  them 
abroad.  I  did  not  mention  them,  no,  because  I 
did  not  know  that  I  had  to  declare  them. 

Q.  Haven't  you  just  stated  that  you  were  asked 
whether  you  purchased  anything-  abroad? 

A.  I  did  not  purchase  them.  I  paid  for  the  work- 
manship. 

Q.  You  did  not  call  that  a  purchase,  when  you 
got  all  except  the  little  diamonds  in  there? 

A.  That  is  the  main  thing,  workmanship. 

Q.  Haven't  you  said  the  diamonds  were  of  no 
account ! 

A.  I  said  the  workmanship  was  the  chief  value. 

Q.  You  purchased  that  abroad? 

A.  But  I  didn't  know  it  was  dutiable. 

Q.  "Will  you  answer  the  question? 

A.  I  don't  know. 

Q.  Then,  as  to  the  ring,  that,  excepting  the  little 
diamonds  in  it,  you  purchased  abroad,  didn't  you? 

A.  I  paid  for  the  workmanship  of  it. 

Q.  Didn  't  you  pay  for  the  gold  ? 

A.  I  guess  that  was  in  it.  T  say  what  he  fur- 
nished when  it  was  finished  was  sixty -five  dollars. 

Q.  Did  you  purchase  all  excepting  the  little  dia- 
monds in  it? 

A.  I  paid  for  the  workmanship  of  it. 

Q.  Will  you  answer  the  question  yes  or  no?  Did 
you  purchase  all  in  the  ring  excepting  the  dia- 
monds ? 

A.  Yes. 


WHY  MIGHT  IS  EIGHT,  AND  WHEN  285 

Q.  You  knew  that  at  the  time  you  made  that  dec- 
laration ? 

A.  I  knew  it  was  workmanship,  and  did  not  know 
it  was  dutiable. 

Q.  You  knew  that  fact,  that  you  had  purchased 
all  in  that  ring  excepting  the  little  diamonds,  at 
the  time  you  made  the  declaration  1 

A.  Yes ;  I  knew  I  had  furnished  a  great  deal  to- 
wards it. 

Q.  (Question  repeated.) 

A.  There  was  not  much  outside  of  the  diamonds. 

Q.  Did  you  or  not  know  that  fact? 

A.  Oh,  I  knew  that. 

Q.  Now,  did  you  at  the  time  that  you  made  your 

declaration  say  to  Mr.  on  board  the  ship 

that  all  the  jewels  you  had  you  had  taken  aboard 
with  you? 

A.  He  didn't  ask  me  a  word  about  jewels. 

Q.  Did  you  state  that  to  him? 

A.  I  certainly  did  not, 

Q.  No  question  was  asked  you  about  any  jewels  ? 

A.  Not  a  word. 

Q.  Not  a  word  on  the  ship  by  any  one? 

A.  Not  a  word  by  any  one. 

Q.  Did  you,  after  you  signed  your  declaration, 
volunteer  the  statement  that  "all  the  other  things 
I  have  in  my  baggage  I  took  abroad  with  me"? 

A .  No ;  not  after  I  signed  the  declaration. 

Q.  Didn't  you  say  that? 


286   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNxMENT 

A.  No;  I  signed  the  declaration  the  last  thing 
when  I  left  the  dock,  almost  seven  o'clock. 

Q.  You  did  not  say  that  at  that  time  to  any  of 
the  officers? 

A.  No. 

Q.  To  Mr. or  any  of  the  officers? 

A.  I  did  not. 

Q.  If  you  had  purchased  these  things  abroad, 
you  knew  that  purchases  of  jewelry  were  dutiable? 

A.  Certainly. 

Q.  And  you  knew  you  had  these  articles  in  your 
baggage  ? 

A.  Yes. 

Q.  Did  you  have  them,  at  the  time  you  made 
your  declaration,  in  your  hand  satchel? 

A.  I  did. 

Q.  Now,  after  you  had  made  your  declaration  of 

the  linen  and  the  dog,  did  you  say  to  Mr.  

that  all  the  rest  of  the  articles  in  your  baggage 
you  had  taken  abroad  with  you  ? 

A.  He  did  not  ask  me. 

Q.  Did  you,  after  yon  had  declared  the  linen  and 
the  dog — you  recall  entering  those? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  Did  you,  after  you  had  signed  that  declara- 
tion and  declared  those  things,  say  to  Mr.  • 

that  all  the  other  things  you  had  taken  abroad  with 
you? 

A.  T  did  not. 

Q.  Now,  you  say  this  pearl  band  or  dog-collar 


.WHY  MIGHT  IS  RIGHT,  AND  WHEN  287 

and  the  large  pearls  with  the  ruby  pendant  were 
given  to  you  in  Paris  ? 

A.  They  were. 

Q.  Do  you  recall  what  date  I 

A.  I  do  not. 

Q.  Do  you  recall  what  date  you  sailed? 

A.  For  Paris? 

Q.  From  Paris,  or  left  Paris?  A.  I  left  Paris 
on  the  17th  of  June  and  arrived  here  the  24th. 

Q.  And  you  cannot  state  when  they  were  pur- 
chased or  when  you  first  obtained  them? 

A.  No;  it  was  while  I  was  over  there.  I  don't 
remember  the  date. 

Q.  As  near  as  you  can  say? 

A.  Well,  I  guess  it  was  some  time  in  the  begin- 
ning of  May. 

Q.  How  clear  is  your  recollection  about  that? 

A.  Well,  I  know  I  had  worn  them  some;  I  had 
gone  to  different  affairs,  parties  and  operas,  and 
worn  them  a  good  deal,  so  I  had  them  some  time 
in  my  possession. 

Q.  Do  you  remember  about  going  to  any  affair 
in  May  and  wearing  them? 

A.  I  do. 

Q.  What  event  was  that! 

A.  I  went  to  the  opera  several  times  and  to  par- 
ties at  friends'  houses. 

Q.  And  how  are  you  able  to  fix  the  date  as  being 
in  May? 

A.  Because  I  sailed  the  17th  of  June,  and  I  was 


288   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

there  the  whole  month  of  May,  and  I  sailed  on  the 
11th  of  April,  so  I  certainly  went  somewhere  dur- 
ing the  month  of  May. 

Q.  I  am  trying  to  get  at  whether  you  can  remem- 
ber and  recall  any  event  in  May,  with  certainty  as 
to  the  date  being  in  May,  where  you  wore  these 
jewels  f 

A.  Why,  certainly ;  I  went  a  dozen  times. 

Q.  You  are  sure  in  May  1 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

By  the  Court : 

Did  you  go  direct  from  New  York  to  Paris? 

A.  I  went  to  Cherbourg  and  then  by  train. 

Q,  On  which  steamer  did  you  go  ? 

A.  On  the  Kaiser  Wilhelm  der  Grosse,  of  the 
North  German  Lloyd. 

Q.  Disembarked  at  Cherbourg? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

By  Mr.  Wellington : 

Q.  It  only  rests  as  a  general  recollection  you 
have  on  which  you  fix  the  date? 

A.  No,  I  don't  know  the  date. 

Q.  And  you  don't  know  but  what  it  may  have 
been  in  June  that  you  first  wore  it? 

A.  No,  I  don't  think  it  was  in  June,  because  I 
had  worn  them  a  good  deal.  At  least,  I  don't 
know;  it  may  have  been  in  June;  I  don't  know, 
but  it  was  while  I  was  over  there.  I  am  not  sure 
and  I  cannot  say  just  when,  but  I  sailed  on  the 
11th  of  April  and  returned  on  the  24tli  of  June, 


,WHY  MIGHT  IS  RIGHT,  AND  WHEN  289 

and  it  was  during  that  time  I  got  them  and  wore 
them. 

Q.  And  in  Paris  j^ou  wore  them  several  times? 

A.  Quite  often. 

Q.  You  say  these  were  given  to  you! 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  Did  you  visit  the  place  of  their  purchase  and 
inspect  these  large  jewels  before  they  were  given 
to  you  I  A.  Yes,  to  have  the  clasp  made.  I  think 
I  designed  the  clasp,  because  I  furnished  my  own 
stones  for  them.  I  did  not  see  the  pearls  before 
they  were  selected. 

Q.  Now,  confine  yourself  to  the  necklace  of  large 
pearls  with  the  pendant.  Did  you  ever  see  that 
or  any  part  of  it  before  it  was  presented  to  you? 

A.  I  never  did. 

Q.  You  never  visited  the  establishment  where 
they  were  purchased  ? 

A.  Oh,  I  have  been  to  the  establishment,  but  not 
about  the  pearls. 

Q.  And  while  you  were  there  did  you  ever  see 
them? 

A.  No,  I  did  not  see  those  pearls. 

Q.  Didn't  you  see  them  in  the  necklace! 

A.  Nor  unstrung. 

Q.  How  did  you  happen  to  furnish  the  diamonds 
for  the  pendant  that  was  to  be  attached  to  the 
necklace  1 

A.  Well,  I  was  told  that  I  was  going  to  be  pre- 
sented with  a  pearl  necklace,  and  I  asked  about 


290   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

tlie  clasp,  and  tliey  said  it  was  going  to  have  a 
jolain  spray  clasp. 

Q.  Who  told  you  that? 

A.  A  friend  of  mine. 

Q.  He  was  going  to  make  you  a  present  of  the 
pearls'? 

A.  Yes.  So  I  thought  I  could  improve  on  it  by 
putting  a  brooch  clasp  on  that,  and  I  had  these 
stones  I  did  not  use,  and  I  gave  them  to  this  man, 
and  he  showed  me  several  designs  for  clasps,  and 
I  had  this  clasp  made  then  on  the  large  necklace. 

Q.  Whom  did  you  furnish  those  diamonds  to! 

A.  To  a  jeweler  in  Paris  by  the  name  of  jNIorey. 

Q.  He  was  the  man  from  whom  the  necklace  was 
purchased  I 

A.  Yes. 

Q.  You  took  them  and  delivered  them  to  him? 

A.  I  did. 

Q.  No.  5  Faubourg  St.  Honore? 

A.  YcvS,  sir. 

Q.  Didn't  you  testify  you  took  those  diamonds 
and  used  your  own  pearls? 

A.  I  did  not. 

Q.  You  simply  took  them  and  delivered  them  I 

A.  I  did. 

Q.  Did  you  direct  him  what  to  do  with  them? 

A.  I  did. 

Q.  What? 

A.  Make  a  clasp. 

Q.  You  mean  put  them  around  this  pendant? 


[WHY  MIGHT  IS  RIGHT,  AND  WHEN  291 

A.  No :  to  make  the  clasp. 

Q.  Of  the  large  pearls  ? 

A.  I  didn't  know  anything  about  the  pearls.  I 
didn't  know  which  pearls  I  was  going  to  get.  On 
the  necklace  which  I  was  to  get  I  told  him  to  make 
a  clasp  for  the  necklace. 

Q.  And  by  that  clasp  you  meant  the  little  pen- 
dant, as  we  call  it? 

A.  Yes. 

Q.  That  is  what  clasps  it  together? 

A.  Yes. 

Q.  Now,  these  diamonds  around  the  ruby — did 
you  furnish  those  ? 

A.  I  did. 

Q.  The  ruby  you  did  not  ? 

A.  No. 

Q.  Nor  none  of  the  pearls? 

A.  None  of  them. 

Q.  Now,  do  you  know  what  the  cost  of  that  neck- 
lace was? 

A.  I  didn't  know  it  over  there,  but  I  knew  after 
all  this  trouble  came  up. 

Q.  You  were  not  told  there  what  its  price  was? 

A.  No,  I  was  not. 

Q.  And  as  to  the  dog-collar  or  band,  you  fur- 
nished the  diamonds  of  these  little  cross-bars  hold- 
ing the  pearls  together? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  Is  that  all  you  furnished? 

A.  Just  the  diamonds,  yes. 


292  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

Q.  And  that  was  purchased  by  whom? 

A.  My  friend. 

Q.  And  presented  to  you  in  Paris  ? 

A.  In  Paris. 

Q.  And  you  wore  that  there  several  times  ? 

A.  Oh,  yes,  very  often. 

Q.  And  that  you  had  in  your  baggage  when  you 
entered? 

A.  I  did. 

Q.  And  when  you  made  your  declaration? 

A.  Yes. 

Q.  And  the  large  pearls? 

A.  Yes. 

Q.  You  knew  they  were  both  in  your  bag? 

A.  Yes. 

Q.  That  you  had  possession  of  them  at  the  time 
you  made  your  declaration? 

A.  Yes. 

Q.  I  understood  you  to  say  that  your  name  was 
Mrs.  Phyllis  E.  Dodge? 

A.  Yes. 

Q.  That  is  your  name? 

A.  Yes. 

Q.  Will  you  swear  to  that  ? 

A.  Swear  to  it? 

Q.  Will  you  swear  to  that? 

A.  It  is  a  name  I  assumed  about  ten  years  ago. 

Q.  What  is  your  real  name? 

Q.  You  say  you  have  had  this  name  about  ten 
years  ? 


WHY  MIGHT  IS  RIGHT,  AND  WHEN  293 

A.  About  ten  years. 

Q.  Were  you  ever  married? 

A.  I  was. 

Q.  To  a  Mr.  Dodge? 

A.  No. 

Q,  What  was  your  name? 

A.  I  refuse  to  answer. 

Q.  You  refuse  to  answer? 

A.  Yes. 

Q.  Your  name  never  was  Dodge  until  you  as- 
sumed it? 

A.  Never. 

Q.  Where  were  you  living  when  you  assumed 
this  name  of  Mrs.  Phyllis  E.  Dodge? 

A.  New  York. 

Q.  You  were  living  in  New  York? 

A.  Yes. 

Q.  Were  you  born  in  New  York? 

A.  I  refuse  to  answer. 

Q.  Why? 

A.  Simply  because  I  don't  care  to  answer. 

Q.  Why? 

A.  I  do  not  care  to  go  into  my  domestic  affairs. 
I  do  not  think  they  have  anything  to  do  with  this 
case. 

Q.  It  is  simply  a  matter  of  your  private  pleasure 
that  you  refuse  to  answer? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  For  the  same  reason  you  refuse  to  answer 
what  your  husband's  real  name  was? 


294   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

A.  Yes,  the  same  reason. 

Mr.  "Wellington :  I  shall  ask  the  court  to  direct 
her  to  answer. 

The  Conrt:  If  you  show  me  that  the  answer 
that  she  might  make  of  the  true  name,  for  instance, 
has  some  necessary  connection  with  the  case,  upon 
which  you  wish  to  predicate  further,  or  other 
l^roof,  I  will  consider  whether  I  shall  direct  her  to 
answer.  If  it  is  merely  to  indicate  what  the  true 
name  was,  and  nothing  more,  I  think  I  will  decline 
to  require  her  to  answer. 

Mr.  Wellington:  The  object  is,  if  we  can  find 
her  true  name  and  of  the  husband,  we  can  get  some 
track  of  the  history  of  this  woman  and  find  out 
how  credible  she  is. 

The  Court :  I  think  for  that  purpose  I  shall  not 
require  her  to  answer,  considering  that  she  has 
been  going  under  the  name  of  Dodge  for  ten  years. 

Mr.  Wellington :  That  we  cannot  tell.  It  is  only 
her  statement.  If  we  can  get  at  the  proper  name 
we  may  be  able  to  contradict  her. 

Q.  When  did  you  first  assume  the  name  of 
Dodge? 

A.  I  refuse  to  answer. 

Mr.  Wellington:  Our  information  is  that  it  is 
only  two  or  three  years,  and  we  ask  the  conrt  to 
instruct  her  to  answer  as  affecting  her  credibility. 

Q.  I  asked  you  if  your  name  was  Phyllis  E. 
Dodge? 

A.  I  said  yes,  and  that  I  had  been  known  by  that 


WHY  MIGHT  IS  RIGHT,  AND  WHEN  295 

name  for  ten  years,  and  probably  eleven  years,  and 
b}"  no  other  name  ever  since  that  time. 

Q.  Why  do  you  refuse  to  answer?  When  and 
where  did  you  first  assume  that  name? 

Objected  to  that  the  question  had  been  ruled  out. 

The  Court :  I  think  this  answer  is  sufficient  for 
any  purposes  of  contradiction  in  respect  to  what 
you  have  just  stated,  namely,  that  you  expect  to 
show  that  she  has  -been  known  by  some  other  name 
during  the  last  ten  years.  She  says  she  has  been 
known  by  no  other  names  during  that  time. 

Q.  For  ten  years,  you  say,  you  have  gone  under 
the  name  of  Dodge  1 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  And  you  refuse  to  give  the  name  you  went 
under  before? 

A.  I  certainly  do. 

Q.  Will  you  give  your  maiden  name? 

A.  I  will  not. 

Q.  Now,  where  do  you  say  you  live  ? 

A.  At  present? 

Q.  Yes. 

A.  At  104  West  Eightieth  Street. 

Q.  You  say  you  own  that  house? 

A.  I  do. 

Q.  From  whom  did  j^ou  purchase  it? 

A.  From  a  man  by  the  name  of  Knight. 

Q.  Did  you  pay  him  the  money  for  it? 

A.  T\niopaid  for  it? 

Q.  Yes. 


296   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

A.  A  friend. 

Q.  Is  there  any  mortgage  on  it  now? 

A.  Not  a  penny, 

Q.  Have  you  any  occupation  in  life? 

A.  No. 

Q.  Any  means  of  earning  money? 

A.  No. 

Q.  Have  you  inherited  any  fortune  from  any 
ancestors? 

A.  I  refuse  to  answer. 

The  Court :  Unless  there  is  some  special  reason 
why  you  should  not  answer  that  question  I  think 
you  should  answer  it. 

A.  I  have  been  left  some  little  money. 

By  Mr.  Wellington : 

Q.  How  much? 

A.  I  don't  remember  just  how  much  it  was,  it  is 
so  long  ago. 

Q.  Have  you  any  of  it  left  now? 

A.  I  have  a  little  money.  I  don't  know  that  it  is 
that.    I  don't  think  it  is. 

Q.  I  will  ask  you  this  square  question.  T  guess 
you  won't  object  to  answering  it.  Is  or  is  not  your 
whole  means  of  livelihood  derived  from  the  sup- 
port, during  this  time,  from  this  friend? 

Objected  to. 

Q.  You  have  no  occupation  and  no  means  of 
earning  money,  and  you  are  not  earning  money  by 
any  pursuit  or  occupation? 

Objected  to  as  already  answered. 


WHY  MIGHT  IS  RIGHT,  AND  WHEN  297 

Mr.  Wellington :  Do  you  desire  to  make  any  cor- 
rection? If  that  is  understood,  I  won't  pursue  it 
further. 

Mr.  Carey:  Certainly.  I  would  have  admitted 
it  all  without  your  asking  if  you  had  asked  me  to. 

Q,  Getting  back  to  one  other  point,  Mrs.  Dodge— 
I  suppose  you  prefer  we  shall  call  you  Mrs. 
Dodge? 

A.  I  don't  care  what  you  call  me. 

Q.  I  desire  to  call  you  what  you  desire  me  to. 

A.  It  doesn't  make  any  difference  what  you  call 
me. 

Q.  Getting  back  to  the  purchase  of  the  pearls,  do 
you  or  not  remember  the  fact  that  they  were  pur- 
chased by  your  friend  on  the  2d  day  of  June? 

A.  I  told  you  I  did  not  remember  the  date. 

Q.  I  know  you  did,  and  I  am  trying  to  see  if  I 
cannot  refresh  your  recollection. 

A.  No,  I  don't  remember  what  day  it  was. 

Q.  Do  you  know  how  soon  after  they  were  pre- 
sented to  you  that  you  wore  them  at  all  ? 

A.  I  do  not. 

Q.  So  that  if  they  were  purchased  on  the  2d  day 
of  June,  and  you  left  Paris  on  the  17th,  you  could 
only  have  had  an  opportunity  to  wear  them  about 
two  weeks  1 

A.  No,  if  that  was  the  date.    That  looks  like  it. 

Q.  Did  you  ever  see  your  friend's  affidavit  that 
he  made  in  this  case,  when  you  were  seeking  to 
have  these  jewels  released? 


298   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

A.  I  don't  know  whether  I  did  or  not. 

Q.  Do  YOU  recollect  there  was  such  an  affidavit 
made  down  at  Mr.  Smithers'  office  when  you  were 
present  ? 

A.  What  kind  of  an  affidavit  f 

Q.  An  affidavit  when  there  was  an  effort  made 
with  the  Treasury  Department  to  have  these 
things  released. 

A.  I  did. 

Q.  Did  you  see  your  friend's  affidavit  at  that 
time  or  hear  it  read? 

A.  I  don't  know  whether  I  did  or  not. 

Q.  Just  look  at  that  paper,  and  I  will  ask  you 
whether  you  ever  read  that  before  [showing]. 

A.  I  know  that  is  true^  but  I  don't  know  that  I 
have  seen  the  affidavit  before. 

Q.  The  matters  there  stated  you  think  to  be  cor- 
rect? 

A.  T  know  it  is  correct. 

Q.  You  notice  he  states  this  was  purchased  on 
the  2d  day  of  June  ? 

A.  I  see  it  is  so  stated  there,  and  it  may  be  cor- 
rect. 

Q.  That  you  believe  to  be  correct? 

A.  I  told  you  before  I  did  not  remember  the  date. 

Q.  Having  seen  it  there  now,  do  you  think  it  is 
correct? 

Objected  to. 

Q.  Now,  after  reading  that  affidavit  and  refresh- 
ing your  recollection  about  it,  is  it  or  not  your  best 


.WHY  MIGHT  IS  RIGHT,  AND  WHEN   299 

recollection  that  these  jewels  were  purchased  by 
your  friend  on  the  2d  day  of  June  ? 

A.  I  know  they  were  purchased  by  my  friend, 
but  I  don't  know  about  the  2d  day  of  June. 

Q.  And  you  can't  say  whether  it  was  in  June  or 
May? 

A.  I  cannot. 

Q.  Do  you  recollect  how  soon  your  friend  ar- 
rived, on  the  other  side! 

A.  No,  I  don't  know  exactly  how  soon  it  was. 

Q.  Do  you  remember  whether  it  was  about  the 
first  of  June  he  arrived  in  Paris? 

A.  That  it  was  after  the  first  of  June? 

Q.  Yes. 

A.  Why,  it  must  have  been.  No,  it  was  not.  It 
was  in  May.  If  he  sailed — let  me  see.  It  must 
have  been  in  May  that  he  came  there. 

Q.  Have  you  any  recollection  about  that  ? 

A.  I  don't  know  the  date — no. 

Q.  Mrs.  Dodge,  will  you  look  at  the  signature 
there  and  say  whether  that  is  your  handwriting? 
[showing  original  answer  in  this  case]. 

A.  That  is  my  writing, 

Q.  Do  you  remember  where  you  signed  that? 

A.  I  do  not. 

Q.  You  don't  know  where  you  signed  it? 

A.  No. 

Q.  Do  you  recollect  whether  you  read  it? 

A.  Of  course  I  read  it,  or  I  should  not  have 
signed  it. 


300   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

Q.  Were  the  statements  therein,  so  far  as  you 
then  knew,  true  to  the  best  of  your  knowledge? 

A.  As  far  as  I  knew  then,  certainly, 

Q.  Now,  you  have  stated  to  us  that  these  articles 
at  the  time  you  made  your  declaration — the  arti- 
cles that  were  seized — were  in  your  hand-bag? 

A.  They  were. 

Q.  And  as  long  as  they  were  in  your  possession 
they  were  in  that  hand-bag? 

A,  That  was  not  very  long. 

Q.  But  they  were  there  all  the  time  you  had  pos- 
session of  them,  from  the  time  you  made  your  dec- 
laration up  to  the  time,  or  from  the  time  you  were 
called  upon  to  make  your  entry  or  declaration,  up 
to  the  time  the  bag  was  taken  possession  of  by 
the  officers,  the  jewels  were  in  the  hand-bag? 

A.  Yes,  they  must  have  been  there. 

Q.  Do  you  remember  that  was  the  fact  ? 

A.  Of  course. 

Q.  Now,  how  did  you  come  to  make  this  state- 
ment in  your  answer :  ' '  This  claimant,  further  an- 
swering, alleges  that  there  was  no  attempt  at  con- 
cealment of  said  jewelry  or  any  part  thereof;  that 
the  same  was  partly  worn  by  this  claimant  and 
the  balance  carried  in  an  open  bag"?  Now,  what 
part  of  this  jewelry  that  you  are  claiming  in  this 
case  was  worn  by  you  on  that  occasion? 

A.  These  same  things  here? 

Q.  Yes. 

A.  None  of  these  were  worn  by  me. 


WHY  MIGHT  IS  RIGHT,  AND  WHEN   301 

It  is  useless  to  give  the  reader  further  informa- 
tion regarding  the  testimony  that  was  given  by- 
Mrs.  Dodge. 

The  result  of  this  trial  was  a  decree  given  for 
the  United  States  Government  condemning  all  of 
the  property  seized.  An  appeal  was  taken  by 
Messrs.  Smithers  &  Havens  together  with  my 
friend,  T.  J.  Carey.  (I  want  to  say  that  never  in 
his  lifetime  did  Mr.  Carey  work  more  faithfully 
for  a  client  than  he  did  to  win  this  case.) 

The  United  States  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals 
quickly  ordered  a  new  trial  and  the  case  was  re- 
tried. The  Government  lost  the  case  on  the  second 
trial,  and  an  appeal  was  then  taken  to  the  United 
States  Court  of  Appeals  and  the  case  was  then 
won  by  the  Government. 

The  case  itself  created  such  world-wide  atten- 
tion that  S.  E.  Smithers  and  T.  J.  Carey  took  the 
case  to  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  all  of 
the  judges  sitting  in  session,  and  a  decision  was 
given  again  for  the  Government. 

Then  the  case  was  presented  to  President  Roose- 
velt. The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  at  that  time 
was  present,  and  a  strong  appeal  was  made  to 
President  Roosevelt,  which  was  turned  down  by 
him,  and  the  Secretary  ordered  the  goods  sold. 

I  was  present  at  the  time  that  these  jewels  were 
sold  at  public  auction  in  one  of  the  courtrooms  in 
the  Federal  Building,  which  was  the  end  of  the 
famous  Phyllis  E.  Dodge  case. 


THE  LEJEUNE  JEWELS 


CHAPTER  I 

What  is  known  as  the  Lejeune  case  was  a  cele- 
brated one  in  customs  circles.  Since  I  made  the 
acquaintance  of  Constant  Lejeune  I  have  seen 
most  convincingly  the  wisdom  of  Sev  Stevenson's 
remark,  *'A11  that  is  necessary  sometimes  is  to 
stand  on  guard  with  an  assured  countenance." 
Brass !  Lejeune  had  as  much  of  it  as  he  had  pol- 
ish. Usually  these  two  opposites  do  not  go  to- 
gether. Lejeune  was  infinite  cheek  "a  capite  ad 
calcem/'  but  he  had  that  perfumed  arg-ument  that 
carried  weight.  He  came  from  Belgium,  where, 
I  believe,  he  was  once  wealthy.  Reduced  circmn- 
stances  were  given  by  his  friends  as  an  excuse  for 
his  attempt  to  defraud  not  only  the  Government, 
but  a  number  of  wealtliy  persons  as  well. 

Although  Lejeune  arrived  from  Brussels  on 
June  18,  1901,  it  was  not  until  the  close  of  that 
year  that  his  operations  attracted  official  atten- 
tion. I  left  my  Christmas  dinner  to  locate  the 
man.  For  some  weeks  before,  the  New  York  mar- 
ket had  been  carrying  expensive  jewelry  on  which 

802 


THE  LEJEUNE  JEWELS  303 

duty  had  not  been  paid.  At  least,  I  went  over  tons 
of  declarations  of  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Balti- 
more and  Boston,  and  could  not  find  any  record 
of  the  property,  which  was  accurately  described. 
The  express  company  which  delivered  the  eighteen 
pieces  of  baggage  which  Lejeune  and  his  wife 
brought  in  when  they  landed  from  the  steamer 
Kaiser  Wilhelm  der  Grosse  on  June  18  supi^lied 
me  with  their  hotel  address. 

In  this  way  I  traced  the  man  from  place  to  place 
until  at  last  I  located  his  lair  in  the  Judson  Apart- 
ment House,  53  Washington  Place,  South,  Man- 
hattan. I  had  in  my  possession  the  evening  I  first 
called  there  a  list  of  jewels  he  had  brought  in,  to- 
gether with  a  sworn  declaration  made  on  arrival 
that  he  had  nothing  except  eight  dollars'  worth  of 
personal  effects.  The  declaration  showed  that 
even  those  were  sworn  off  and  admitted  free.  Be- 
tween Christmas  Day  of  1901  and  January  3  fol- 
lowing I  ran  the  whereabouts  of  the  Belgian  down. 
AVhen  I  called  at  his  apartments  in  the  Judson  on 
the  night  of  the  last-mentioned  date,  I  was  in- 
formed by  a  maid  that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lejeune  were 
not  at  home,  but  were  visiting  friends  at  No.  — 
Washington  Square,  West. 

Not  desiring  to  disturb  the  host  of  Lejeune,  T 
sent  a  special  messenger  up  to  the  apartment  to 
requesthim  to  come  at  his  convenience  to  the  lower 
floor.  Not  knowing  me  or  my  mission,  he  re- 
sponded more  out  of  curiosity  than  anything  else. 


304   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

I  told  him  in  very  few  words  that  I  desired  to  ques- 
tion him  at  length  regarding  the  sale  of  a  lot  of 
jewelry  that  was  formerly  his  property,  and  also 
as  to  the  receipt  by  him  from  Miami,  Fla.,  of  a 
consignment  of  valuable  goods.  That  very  day, 
it  seems,  Lejeune  had  been  blackmailed  out  of  two 
hundred  dollars  by  somebody  more  alert  than  him- 
self, and  he  seemed  to  place  some  connection  be- 
tween that  incident  and  my  visit,  for  he  viewed 
the  latter  with  great  suspicion.  I  showed  him  my 
badge,  but  he  laughed  at  it. 

We  were  in  the  midst  of  a  heated  discussion, 
when  Mrs.  Lejeune  and  her  host  came  down  to  the 
lower  landing.  Mrs.  Lejeune  could  talk  English 
fluently,  and  addressed  me  in  that  language.  I  ex- 
plained to  her  the  situation,  and  she  advised  her 
husband,  in  French,  to  go  back  to  their  apartment 
with  me  and  talk  the  matter  over.  Wlien  we 
reached  the  Judson  I  said  to  Mrs.  Lejcnme : 

''Madam,  do  me  the  kindness  to  turn  over  your 
jewels." 

"My  husband  has  them  locked  up,"  she  made 
reply.  "He  will  get  them,  that  you  may  see  them." 

Lejeune  went  into  an  adjoining  room  and  pres- 
ently returned  with  an  immense  jewel  casket.  This 
he  handed  to  her,  with  tlio  remark  in  an  undertone 
that  she  be  careful  what  she  did  or  said. 

The  piece  de  resistance  of  the  jewel  cabinet  was 
a  diadem,  about  five  inches  in  length  and  about 
two  and  one-half  inches  wide.  It  was  of  fine  sprays. 


THE  LEJEUNE  JEWELS  305 

like  a  boiiqnet,  the  center  rod  connecting  the 
sprays  having  in  its  fokls  a  setting  that  held  a 
most  magnificent  diamond.  This  was  a  Regent  or 
Pitt  cut,  weighing  about  five  carats.  Tliere  were 
also  in  the  casket  the  following: 

Pair  of  diamond  and  pigeon  blood  ruby  brace- 
lets. 

Pair  of  emerald  and  diamond  bracelets. 

Diamond-studded  brooch. 

Black  pearl  set  in  a  ring. 

Four  magnificent  diamond  rings. 

The  emerald  and  diamond  bracelets  were 
worthy  of  admiration  of  a  princess  of  India.  The 
emerald  in  the  center,  in  addition  to  being  fully 
five-eighths  of  an  inch  square,  was  of  the  most 
rich  and  vivid  green  I  had  ever  seen.  The  dia- 
monds at  either  side  of  it  were  Kohinoor  cut  and 
graduated  from  a  five-carat  stone  to  one  of  about 
one  and  one-half  carats. 

The  brooch  was  also  a  kingly  prize.  It  con- 
tained twenty  first-water  stones,  none  of  them 
weighing  less  than  three  or  four  carats.  The  black 
pearl  set  in  the  ring,  the  Lejeunes  admitted,  was 
worth  no  less  than  five  thousand  dollars. 

I  asked  Lejeune  what  he  considered  the  collec- 
tion of  nine  pieces  to  be  worth,  and  he  said  about 
fifteen  thousand  dollars.  I  could  not  help  smiling 
at  this,  and  I  remarked : 

"There  are  dozens  of  dealers  downtown  who 


306   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

would  fall  over  one  another  to  get  these  jewels  at 
that  figure." 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders,  and,  with  a  gesture 
to  his  wife,  indicated  that  she  place  the  gems  in 
the  casket.  I  waited  until  she  had  done  so,  when 
I  informed  her  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  take 
the  entire  collection  under  seizure. 

**Ever\^thing  may  be  quite  correct,  madam,"  I 
said  to  her,  "but  that  is  for  the  Collector  of  the 
Port  to  decide." 

Mrs.  Lejeune  was  amazed  at  the  idea  and  pro- 
tested amid  a  fusillade  of  English  and  French. 
Lejeune  himself  grew  white  with  anger,  but  I  ex- 
plained that  it  was  the  usual  formality,  and  that  if 
the  introduction  of  the  jewels  into  the  country  was 
regular  they  would  be  returned. 

Up  to  this  point  Lejeune  had  acted  with  the 
greatest  tact,  but  when  he  realized  that  I  was  de- 
termined and  intended  to  take  the  jewels  away  on 
my  person  he  became  impudent  and  showed  that 
beneath  his  veneer  there  was  a  composition  of  in- 
elegant brass.  I  had  told  him  that  I  desired  to 
take  the  things  away  with  the  least  possible  pub- 
licity, as  I  was  not  anxious  to  get  the  affair  in  the 
press.  This,  it  seems,  gave  him  an  opportunity 
to  resort  to  stratagem,  and  he  immediately  de- 
nounced me  as  an  impostor. 

It  just  happened  that  before  I  entered  the  Jud- 
son  apartment  the  first  time  on  that  night  I  spoke 
to  a  uniformed  policeman  on  the  street,  introdu- 


THE  LEJEUNE  JEWELS  307 

cing  myself  and  indicating-  that  I  might  have  some 
use  for  him.  lie  said  that  he  would  be  close  at 
hand,  and  I  saw  him  on  a  nearby  corner  when, 
with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lejeune,  I  entered  the 
Judson  for  the  second  time.  Bearing  the  fact  in 
mind,  I  said  to  Lejeune  that  the  policeman  on  that 
patrol  would  identify  me. 

"At  all  events,"  I  continued,  *4t  will  be  neces- 
sary for  me  to  take  these  jewels,  whether  or  not 
you  choose  to  go." 

Both  then  said  that  they  would  give  the  jewels 
over  to  me,  and,  while  I  was  making  out  a  receipt 
for  the  same,  Lejeune,  probably  inspired  by  his 
wife,  said  that  in  view  of  the  great  value  of  the 
property,  and  the  fact  that  it  was  night,  he  would 
accompany  me  home  and  spend  the  night  with  me. 

It  was  my  turn  to  object.  The  upshot  of  the 
matter  was  that  I  assured  him  that  I  had,  on  innu- 
numerable  occasions  previously,  carried  much  more 
precious  jewelry  than  that  of  which  he  was  so 
careful,  and  that  if  he  would  accompany  me  to  the 
nearest  police  station,  I  would  not  only  guarantee 
him  a  safe  return  home  that  night,  but  also  an 
official  assurance  that  he  could  entrust  his  prop- 
erty to  me,  pending  a  decision  by  the  Collector. 
Lejeune  and  his  wife  walked  with  me  to  the  Mercer 
street  station-house  and  were  convinced  by  the  ser- 
geant in  command  that  I  had  the  authoi  ity  to  take 
possession  of  the  jewels.  The  Lejeunes  then  re- 
traced their  steps  homeward. 


308   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

I  had  no  positive  evidence  that  the  jewels  were 
smuggled,  though  the  information  that  I  possessed 
warranted  that  conviction.  This  was  my  chief  ob- 
ject in  making  the  seizure  as  quietly  as  possible. 
I  wanted  to  cover  up  every  loophole  of  Lejeune 
before  any  news  of  the  affair  reached  the  public. 
My  surprise  and  chagrin  may  be  imagined  when, 
upon  arriving  at  my  home  at  midnight,  I  found 
more  than  a  dozen  reporters,  representing  all  the 
big  dailies,  on  hand,  awaiting  my  coming. 

I  asked  them  where  they  had  heard  that  a  seiz- 
ure had  been  made,  and  they  said  that  the  officials 
of  the  Mercer  Street  police  station  had  given  out 
the  information.  I  insisted  that  I  had  nothing  to 
say,  but  what  was  printed  next  morning  threw 
me  back  several  days  in  my  task,  if  it  did  not  se- 
riously affect  the  success  of  several  important  fea- 
tures of  my  operations.  I  learned  a  lesson  from 
the  police  that  night. 

The  Lejeune  jewels  were  delivered  to  the  Col- 
lector's special  deputy  the  following  morning  and 
placed  in  the  Custom  House  safe.  Lejeune  did  not 
let  the  grass  grow  under  his  feet.  He  had  the 
younger  Mr.  Moon,  of  Moon  Brothers,  retained  as 
his  attorney.  Bright  and  early  the  same  day,  and 
overflowing  with  an  exuberance  of  imaginary  au- 
thoi'ity,  this  lawyer  was  at  the  Custom  House  be- 
fore the  Collector  reached  his  desk. 

It  was  evident  from  the  initial  bow  of  the  law- 


THE  LEJEUNE  JEWELS  309 

yer  that  morning  that  he  was  under  the  misappre- 
liension  that  the  entire  United  States  Government 
was  resting  on  his  shoulders.  Mr.  Moon  repre- 
sents many  French  firms,  and  that  fact  has  helped 
to  make  him  pompous.  He  was  certainly  inebriated 
with  his  own  importance  and  verbosity  that  morn- 
ing. He  spoke  about  damnable  outrages,  the  weak- 
ness of  a  Government  that  would  permit  the  vio- 
lation of  a  man's  home,  and  a  great  deal  more 
twaddle  of  that  kind. 

His  purpose  was  apparent  from  the  very  outset, 
however.  He  wanted  to  scare  the  Treasury  De- 
partment of  this  great  and  glorious  country  into 
returning  the  Lejeune  jewels  ''without  any  ques- 
tions asked."  When,  finally,  he  addressed  his  ha- 
rangue to  me,  I  told  him  in  undisguised  language 
that  I  was  never  frightened  when  I  had  the  law 
on  my  side,  and  that  as  I  had  the  power  vested  in 
me  to  perform  the  duties  given  to  me  by  my  su- 
periors, one  of  which  was  the  seizure  of  his  client's 
jewels,  I  was  not  to  be  bullied  into  returning  them 
pending  a  decision  from  a  higher  authority. 

Mr.  Moon,  in  behalf  of  his  client,  admitted  that 
Lejeune  had  arrived  in  this  country  on  the  pre- 
vious June  18  with  a  considerable  amount  of  jew- 
elry; that  he  had  become  pressed  for  read}^  cash 
two  or  three  months  following  his  arrival  and  had 
sold  some  of  the  jewelry  and  was  willing  to  sell 
the  rest. 

"What  he  did  was   done  legally,"  said   Mr. 


310   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

Moon.  "It  was  on  my  advice  that  he  made  the 
sale,  and  it  was  authorized  by  one  of  your  deputy 
ccllectors." 

This  was  a  startling  admission,  and  evoked  some 
inquiry  on  the  jjart  of  Collector  Bidwell,  to  which 
Mr.  Moon  replied  that  when  his  client  asked  him 
for  advice  as  to  his  desire  to  sell  the  jewels,  the 
counsel  had  written  to  the  deputy  collector.  An 
answer  was  received  on  November  30  consenting 
to  the  sale  and  stating  that  duty  need  not  be  paid. 

"That,  sir,  is  our  authority,"  said  Attorney 
Moon  to  Collector  Bidwell,  "and  you  cannot  get 
around  it." 

Then  followed  a  lengthy  appeal  for  the  return 
of  the  property  seized.  The  Collector  said  that 
the  same  would  have  to  be  detained  pending  the 
pleasure  of  the  department  in  Washington.  The 
Collector  pointed  out  to  Mr.  Moon  that  the  deputy 
collector  had  written  an  unofficial  letter  in  a 
friendly  spirit,  and  that  in  making  a  reply  to  the 
inquiry  of  Mr.  Moon,  he  (the  Collector)  had  not 
been  informed  in  the  premises  and  knew  nothing 
of  any  consent  being  given. 

"It  was  entirely  illegal  on  the  part  of  the  dep- 
uty collector,"  was  the  comment  of  Mr.  Bidwell. 
"So  far  as  I  can  see,  the  property  is  clearly  duti- 
able, and  Mr.  Lejeune  has  violated  the  law  in  sell- 
ing this  dutiable  jewelry." 

While  Lejeune  was  scurrying  around  the  next 
few  days  trying  to  keep  the  authorities  off  his 


THE  LEJEUNE  JEWELS  311 

track,  I  managed  to  secure  the  name  of  a  man  to 
whom  he  had  sold  a  quantity  of  jewelry  for  $23,- 
180.  In  addition,  I  learned  that  Lejeune  was  the 
proprietor  of  an  immense  store  on  Fifth  Avenue, 
near  Sherry's,  where  he  was  selling  bric-a-brac 
and  expensive  furniture.  I  searched  high  and  low 
to  find  some  record  of  duty  having  been  paid  upon 
the  imported  furniture  and  fine  arts  of  this  store, 
but  without  success. 

Lejeune,  it  was  discovered,  had  a  secretary 
whose  business  it  was  to  introduce  the  stuff  to  the 
attention  of  wealthy  New  Yorkers.  The  sale  of 
the  $23,180  worth  of  diamonds  had  been  effected 
through  the  good  offices  of  this  secretary,  who,  it 
was  ascertained,  had  to  serve  papers  on  Lejeune 
for  the  payment  of  the  commission  on  this  sale. 
The  buyer  of  the  jewelry  was  Baron  Erlanger,  who 
had  jDurchased  it  for  his  wife. 

The  Baron  was  residing  in  the  metropolis  at  the 
lime,  and  I  located  him  without  any  great  diffi- 
culty. He  told  me  without  hesitation  about  the 
whole  transaction.  According  to  his  statement, 
Lejeune  told  him  that  he  was  hard  pressed  for 
funds,  which  he  needed  to  improve  an  orange 
grove  near  Miami,  Fla.  He  purchased  from 
him  one  diamond  necklace,  a  large  piece  which  he 
said  was  similar  to  the  diadem  then  in  possession 
of  the  customs,  two  bracelets,  a  solitaire  diamond 
ring,  a  diamond  and  ruby  bracelet,  one  half-moon 
diamond  pin,  and  one  diamond  and  sapphire  ring. 


312   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

'^They  were  delivered  to  me  on  the  payment  of 
$3,000  cash.  I  gave  him  my  notes  for  the  re- 
mainder, $20,180, ' '  is  the  way  the  Baron  put  it. 

What  the  Baron  said  about  Lejeune  needing  im- 
mediate cash  to  imj)rove  an  orange  grove  was  an 
echo  of  what  Attorney  Moon  said  at  the  hearing 
before  Collector  Bidwell.  Observe  the  inconsist- 
ency of  the  lawyer's  claims.  When  I  saw  Lejeune 
at  his  home  in  the  Judson  he  showed  me  three  poli- 
cies on  the  New  York  Life  Insurance  Company  for 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  He  displayed  them 
in  an  endeavor  to  establish  the  claim  that  he  was 
an  honest  man.  Had  Lejeune  required  money  as 
badly  as  his  lawyer  tried  to  make  all  hands  be- 
lieve, the  insurance  policies  would  have  secured  it 
for  him  within  a  few  hours.  But  he  did  not  want 
money  that  way.  He  preferred  to  defraud  the 
Government.  That  was  the  secret  of  his  financial 
embarrassment. 

Baron  Erlanger  furaished  me  with  the  name  of 
his  attorney,  on  whom  I  called  at  his  office  on  West 
Tenth  Street,  Manhattan.  He  gave  me  a  state- 
ment of  the  transaction  between  Lejeune  and  his 
client,  from  which  I  abstract  the  following : 

The  purchase  of  the  jewels  was  made  November 
6,  1901,  and  they  were  delivered  the  day 
following.  The  sum  of  $3,000  in  cash  was 
paid  to  bind  the  sale.  One  note  for  $2,000 
was  given,  payable  in  six  months  from  No- 
vember 27,  1902.    A  second  note,  payable  May 


THE  LEJEUNE  JEWELS  313 

7,  1903,  for  $8,000,  and  a  third  note,  paj^able  No- 
vember 27,  1904,  for  the  remainder,  $10,180,  were 
also  in  the  list  of  promissory  indebtedness.  I  give 
the  exact  dates  of  these  notes  to  illustrate  that  if 
Lejeune  could  afford  to  sell  jewelry  on  November 
6,  1901,  and  wait  more  than  three  years  to  get  a 
final  payment,  he  could  not  have  been  in  any  great 
degree  of  financial  embarrassment.  Besides,  of  the 
$3,000  cash  that  was  paid  to  consummate  the  sale, 
Lejeune  had  promised  to  give  his  secretaiy  $900 
for  bringing  Erlanger  into  the  net. 

That  the  man  was  not  poverty-worn  when  he 
made  the  sale  may  be  surmised  from  the  fact  that 
he  gave  this  same  secretary  $200  a  few  days  before 
he  transferred  the  diamonds  to  Baron  Erlanger. 
Again,  it  was  learned  that  Lejeune,  in  order  that 
he  should  not  be  forced  to  pay  any  more  commis- 
sions on  any  sales  of  jewels  to  Baron  Erlanger, 
compromised  with  his  secretary  and  secured  a  re- 
lease from  that  individual  for  $75.  This  made  a 
total  of  $1,175  paid  to  the  secretary  out  of  $3,000, 
which  he  needed  so  much  to  improve  his  orange 
grove  in  Florida. 

Dovetailing  the  Erlanger  transaction  to  the 
complete  satisfaction  of  Collector  Bidwell,  I  began 
an  investigation  of  the  contents  of  Lejeune 's  Fifth 
Avenue  ''Art  Gallery."  I  visited  the  place  on  the 
morning  of  January  7,  1902.  It  consisted  of  two 
large  salesrooms  and  was  street-numbered  520. 
Outside,  there  was  a  brass  sign  calling  attention 


314   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

to  the  fact  that  a  collection  of  fine  arts  and  house- 
hold goods  were  on  sale.  There  were  magnificent 
paintings,  statuary,  rugs,  bric-a-brac  and  furni- 
ture in  abundance,  and,  as  I  entered,  a  young  sales- 
woman came  forward  and  asked  me  what  I  de- 
sired. I  told  her  that  I  merely  desired  to  look 
around,  and  she  voluntpered  to  accompany  me. 

The  young  woman  explained  everything  in  de- 
tail, informing  me  of  the  price  from  the  tickets 
which  were  attached  to  the  articles  I  examined. 
These  prices  were  marked  in  plain  figures.  In  a 
rear  room  there  were  fourteen  pieces  of  gilt  fur- 
niture without  any  upholstering  except  the  cover- 
ing of  the  springs.  Under  the  law,  imported  fur- 
niture that  is  not  upholstered  is  dutiable.  That 
these  fourteen  pieces  were  imported  was  certain. 
Their  workmanship  and  design  were  far  superior 
to  anything  I  had  ever  seen.  The  young  woman 
gave  their  price  as  $12,000.  In  this  set  were  in- 
cluded a  mantelpiece  and  a  screen,  which,  like  the 
remainder  of  the  set,  were  siraply  framework. 

From  the  gilt  furniture, the  saleswoman  took  me 
to  two  magnificent  vases  that  were  made  of  onyx 
and  were  twelve  feet  high.  The  j^rice  asked  for 
these  was  $9,000  each.  Near  the  vases  was  a  clock 
built  on  an  onyx  pedestal.  It  was  an  ideal  piece 
of  workmanship,  and  its  design  was  in  every  par- 
ticular as  elegant  as  the  vases.  It  seemed  to  make 
a  complete  set  with  the  latter.  The  sum  of  $4,000 
was  asked  for  the  clock. 


THE  LEJEUNE  JEWELS  315 

Behind  this  onyx  dream  was  a  painting  by  a 
famous  artist,  15  feet  long  by  8  feet  high,  which 
the  young  guide  told  me  was  worth  $12,500.  Then 
we  came  across  a  bedroom  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. It  was  complete  in  every  detail — of  solid 
mahogany  and  of  a  most  inviting  design.  The 
price  in  this  instance  was  $6,000.  For  a  dining- 
room  set  $7,000  was  asked.  Not  allowing  for  the 
countless  smaller  things  which  the  young  woman 
displayed,  I  afterwards  figured  out  that  I  had  ex- 
amined $64,900  worth  of  stuff,  which,  in  due  time, 
was  seized. 

I  proved  beyond  all  reasonable  doubt  that  near- 
ly all,  if  not  the  entire  contents  of  these  sales- 
rooms had  been  imported  by  Lejeune  from  Brus- 
sels. I  do  not  dispute  that  the  stuff  may  have  been 
his  personal  effects,  and  that  under  certain  con- 
ditions it  was  entitled  to  free  entry.  The  law  states 
that  a  passenger,  on  his  arrival  here,  be  he  a  for- 
eign subject  or  an  American  resident  abroad  who 
has  spent  more  than  two  years  on  the  other  side, 
is  j)ermitted  to  bring  with  him  his  personal  effects 
and  household  goods,  provided  he  takes  the  oath 
swearing  off  the  penalty. 

But  the  strongest  part  of  that  same  law  is  that 
it  is  specifically  stated  upon  this  swearing-off  cer- 
tificate that  the  goods  which  he  asks  to  have  ad- 
mitted duty  free  are  not  for  sale.  Lejeune,  whether 
or  not  he  had  any  legal  right  to  bring  the  jewels 
and  furniture  in,  duty  waived,  violated  the  trust 


316   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

reposed  in  him  when  he  offered  them  for  sale, 
which  he  certainly  did.  Collector  Bidwell  repeat- 
edly stated  that  he  wished  to  be  perfectly  fair  in 
the  matter,  and  added  that  if  the  Lejeunes, 
through  their  lawj^er,  would  guarantee  to  return 
on  demand  the  jewels  then  in  the  Custom  House, 
he  would  surrender  the  property  to  Attorney 
Moon,  pending  a  decision  from  Washington. 

The  Lejeunes  evidently  had  not  acted  in  perfect 
faith  with  their  lawyer,  because  the  latter  abso- 
lutely declined  to  assume  the  responsibility  for  his 
clients.  Criticism  is  not  necessary  in  this  connec- 
tion. To  further  emphasize  the  lack  of  honesty 
of  Lejeune  1  will  briefly  state  the  result  of  my  ad- 
ditional investigation. 

First  of  all,  his  claim  of  being  compelled  to  sell 
some  of  his  jewelry  was  a  prearranged  one,  and 
I  believe  that  his  lawyer  afterwards  made  this  dis- 
covery. Lejeune  did  not  bring  the  jewelry  to  this 
country,  nor  did  his  wife.  They  were  in  the  safe 
of  the  Grand  Central  Hotel  for  several  days  be- 
fore the  Lejeunes  arrived. 

On  June  16,  two  days  before  Lejeune  reached 
Manliattan,  there  arrived  at  the  hostelry  just  men- 
tioned one  Octave  Fontaine  and  his  wife.  Lejeune, 
through  a  prearrangement,  was  to  go  into  business 
with  Fontaine  in  New  York.  The  Fontaines  left 
the  Grand  Central  Hotel  June  21,  three  days  after 
the  arrival  of  the  Lejeunes  in  the  steamer  Kaiser 
Wilhelm  der  Grosse.    Mrs.  Fontaine  returned  to 


THE  LKJEUNE  JEWELS  317 

the  hotel  on  June  24,  followed  the  next  day  by  her 
spouse.  They  again  left  the  hotel  June  27,  and,  as 
they  had  brought  the  Lejeune  jewelry  there,  it 
is  safe  to  assume  that  the  valuables  were  in  the 
safe  of  the  hotel  for  fully  eleven  days. 

Concerning  the  movements  of  these  jewels  prior 
to  their  sale,  they  have  been  pretty  well  traced. 

,  a  reputable  banking  house,  who  produced 

their  books  for  my  benefit,  show  that  on  Septem- 
ber 17,  1901,  Octave  Fontaine  delivered  to  them  a 
sealed  package  for  the  ''account  of  Constant  Le- 
jeune." Another  entry  shows  that  on  September 
21  of  the  same  year  "one  sealed  package,  said  to 
contain  jewelry,"  was  delivered  to  the  firm  by 
Charles  Lejeune  for  the  account  of  Constant  Le- 
jeune. This  Charles  Lejeune  is  a  brother  of  Con- 
stant Lejeune.  A  receipt  by  Constant  in  posses- 
sion of  the  firm  shows  that  on  October  23,  1901, 
the  package  was  delivered  to  him. 

The  books  of  a  certain  banking  house  are  a  liv- 
ing testimony  to  the  fact  that  Lejeune  was  not  in 
the  financial  distress  that  his  attorney  claimed. 
They  show  that  on  June  13,  five  days  before  Con- 
stant and  his  wife  arrived  in  this  countiy,  a  pack- 
age of  bonds  of  the  city  of  Paris  was  received  by 
the  firm  for  their  account  from  the  Credit  Lyon- 
naise  of  Brussels  to  the  value  of  thirty-two  thou- 
sand francs.  On  July  16, 1901,  the  sum  of  twenty- 
eight  thousand  francs  was  sent  to  the  Credit  Lyon- 
naise  of  Brussels  by  Constant,  and  the  memorau- 


318   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

dum  attached  to  this  account  states  that  "the  re- 
maining bonds  are  to  be  held  at  the  disposal  of 
Octave  Fontaine,  who  will  apply. ' ' 

The  firm,  on  July  26,  as  per  entry  in  its  books, 
delivered  to  Octave  Fontaine  ten  bonds,  Fontaine 
filing  a  letter  from  Lejeune  as  identification.  Three 
days  later  there  was  delivered  to  him  "one  sealed 
package,  contents  unknown."  That  Constant  and 
Fontaine  understood  each  other  perfectly  may  be 
gleaned  from  the  following,  which  is  a  copy  of  an 
original  letter  dated  Miami,  July  23,  1901,  the 
original  being  in  the  possession  of  the  Govern- 
ment: 

My  Dear  Fontaine:  I  send  you  to-day  the  jewels.  Just 
think,  they  made  us  pay  sixteen  dollars  for  insurance.  Please 
do  not  forget  to  wire  me  as  soon  as  possible  the  amount  which 
can  be  put  at  my  disposal,  with  date,  etc. 

(Signed)  Constant  Lejeune. 

My  Dear  Fontaine:  I  hereby  confirm  my  letter  of  the  23d 
inst.  In  case  you  should  not  have  ordered  my  wine,  it  would 
be  kind  of  you  to  add  thereto  ten  half-bottles  of  Pom  Greno 
Extra  Dry.  Could  you  not  find  among  your  friends  a  party 
that  would  undertake  a  sale  of  two  large  paintings.  "Marine" 
and  the  "Dog  of  Verbockeren"?  Do  me  the  favor  when  you 
write  to  "Madam"  and  request  her  to  hurry  the  shipment  of 
the  jardiniere,  and  don't  forget  to  present  my  compliments 
to  her.  Yours  lovingly, 

(Signed)  Constant  Lejeune. 

Both  of  the  above  are  literal  translations  and  no 
attempt  has  been  made  to  alter  their  construction. 
Constant,  during  July,  had  asked  Fontaine  to  ship 
to  Miami  from  the  other  side  a  quantity  of  empty 
jewel  cases.    According  to  Lejeune 's  suggestion. 


THE  LEJEUNE  JEWELS  319 

they  wore  to  be  hidden  in  some  cases  of  merchan- 
dise to  escape  customs  observation.  Fontaine  was 
a  bit  squeamish  about  getting  into  difficulties  with 
the  custom  house  authorities  of  this  country,  so 
he  left  the  jewel  cases  in  Brussels,  where  they  are 
still  supposed  to  be.  Fontaine  went  back  to  Eu- 
rope the  last  part  of  August,  and  when  he  returned 
to  Miami  the  following  December  he  found  the  fol- 
lowing letter  from  Charles  Lejeune  awaiting  him 
there : 

Dear  Foxtaine:  Will  you  please  remit  to  me  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible all  the  money  and  bonds  and  boxes  (I  mean  les  ecrins  de 
hijoux  at  le  ceach  d'or  diadem)  that  my  brother  has  trusted 
to  you?  If  you  do  not  have  them  here,  please  let  me  know 
where  they  are  and  when  I  can  get  them. 

Yours  truly, 

(Signed)  Charles  Lejeune. 

I  do  not  know  what  Fontaine's  intentions  were 
regarding  the  jewel  boxes,  but  it  seems  that  he  had 
some  sort  of  reverence  for  the  customs  law  of  this 
country.  He  came  to  me  with  the  documents  af- 
fecting that  portion  of  this  celebrated  case,  and 
my  advice  was  to  treat  the  Lejeunes  with  the  re- 
spect that  distance  and  experience  would  sanction. 
This  fatherly  advice  was  followed  to  the  letter, 
and  resulted  in  the  curtain  being  rung  down  upon 
the  serious  comedy  that  the  Lejeunes  had  staged 
for  the  unsuspecting  American  public. 

But  the  law  is  an  odd  affair.  When  we  consider 
ourselves  most  secure,  that  is  the  time  for  Mr. 


320   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

Technicality  to  make  his  entrance  and  captiva'U^ 
the  audience.  I  was  of  the  opinion  that  I  had  ob- 
tained sufficient  evidence  to  make  even  Charles 
Lejeune  ashamed  of  his  own  brother.  To  strength- 
en my  case  against  Constant,  T  had  secured  from 
a  famous  jeweler's  establishment  on  Fifth  Avenue 
a  receipt  for  the  return  of  a  black  pearl  ring  which 
he  had  given  the  jeweler  to  sell.  The  receipt 
reads : 

"Received  of &  Co.  one  black  ring  which  was  left  with 

them  to  sell.     Valued  at  $11,000. 

(Signed)  "Constaxt  Lejeune." 

This  receipt  evidently  referred  to  the  black 
pearl  ring  which  I  seized  with  the  other  eight 
pieces  in  the  Judson  apartment.  If  it  was  worth 
eleven  thousand  dollars,  what  must  have  been  the 
entire  value  of  the  property  that  I  took  from  him 
that  night?  Certain  it  is  that  the  pearl  was  worth 
much  less  than  either  bracelet. 

In  view  of  the  above  facts,  seemingly  convincing 
of  wrongdoing  on  the  part  of  Constant  Lejeune,  I 
rested  content  that  conviction  was  as  sure  as  fate. 
I  knew  so  much  of  the  man  that  I  had  not  told  that 
I  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  drink  up  the  whole 
]mddle  to  find  that  the  water  was  dirty.  Collector 
Bidwell  personally  took  the  case  to  Washington. 

The  authorities  there  decided,  in  view  of  the 
station  occupied  by  Lejeune  and  his  wife  in  Eu- 


THE  LEJEUNE  JEWELS  321 

rope,  of  their  wealth  there,  and  the  fact  that  they 
displayed  bills  from  the  jewelers  there  of  whom 
they  purchased  the  jewels,  and  that  they  had  the 
jewels  in  tlieir  possession  one  year  prior  to  their 
arrival  in  this  country,  that  the  property  should 
be  absolutely  released.  The  furniture  and  bric- 
a-brac  were,  however,  held  to  be  clearly  dutiable. 
What  I  think  of  the  matter  is  another  thing  en- 
tirely. I  used  to  have  different  views,  but  now  I 
am  a  firm  believer  that  "laws,  like  sausages,  cease 
to  inspire  respect  in  proportion  as  we  know  how 
they  are  made. ' ' 


PROFESSIONAL  SMUGGLER 

The  Government  officer  must  deal  with  all 
grades  of  society,  from  the  highest  down  to  the 
very  dregs  of  humanity.  I  have  found  from  my 
experience  that  the  possession  of  great  wealth  does 
not  deter  many  men  and  women  from  the  attempt 
to  evade  the  United  States  Government  duties.  I 
have  also  found  that,  as  the  act  of  smuggling  is 
criminal,  or  bordering  upon  criminal,  it  is  only 
natural  to  find  members  of  the  criminal  classes 
and  sharpers  of  all  descriptions  engaged  in  such 
attempts.  Thus  I  have  come  to  use  the  term,  in 
common  parlance,  "professional  smuggler." 

To  outwit  these  two  classes,  the  Government 
must  or  should  have  a  man  or  men  possessed  of 
thepeculiarqualities  which  will  enable  them  to  deal 
on  the  one  hand  with  men  and  women  who  have 
been  clever  enough  to  accunmlate  great  wealth, 
and  who  challenge  the  wits  of  the  Government  offi- 
cers in  attempting  to  get  past  the  Port  of  New 
York  with  jewelry  purchased  abroad,  and  on  the 
other  hand,  the  smugglers  of  the  criminal  class, 
who  by  common  consent  are  known  to  be  the 
brightest   and   most   unscrupulous   persons    who 

S32 


PROFESSIONAL  SMUGGLER         323 

cross  the  Atlantic,  because  tbey  have  sharpened 
their  wits  against  those  of  the  best  legal  and  police 
authorities  of  the  world. 

It  must  be  also  apparent  that  with  each  seizure 
of  goods,  with  each  foiling  of  an  attempt  on  the 
part  of  either  of  these  classes  to  evade  the  pay- 
ment of  duties,  a  considerable  financial  loss  ensues 
to  the  smuggler — a  parting  with  prospective  gains 
— a  crushing  mental  disappointment. 

When  the  would-be  smuggler  is  of  the  female 
sex,  and  the  articles  which  she  attempts  to  carry 
through  are  of  a  very  valuable  nature,  such  as 
jewels,  furs  or  laces,  the  disappointment  is  all  the 
more  keen  from  the  fact  that  such  articles  are  well 
known  to  be  very  dear  to  womankind,  and  it  is 
only  natural  that  she  should  attempt  to  rally  to 
her  support,  for  purposes  of  revenge,  all  the  influ- 
ential male  friends  whom  she  may  possess. 

Therefore  it  follows  that  when  a  Government  offi- 
cer has  achieved  considerable  success  in  tliis  class 
of  work  he  becomes  a  marked  man.  Against  him 
are  leveled  the  shafts  of  malice,  hatred,  revenge, 
foul  slander,  calumny  and  the  grossest  kind  of 
personal  abuse  and  vilification. 

If  you  will  stop  to  consider  why  this  should  be 
so,  you  will  observe  that  while  perhaps  a  million- 
aire manufacturer  would  not  stoop  to  such  meth- 
ods, on  the  other  hand  they  are  the  only  ways  by 
which  the  scum  of  society  can  make  its  malice  felt, 
unless  by  means  of  personal  violence  and  attempts 
of  physical  injury. 


THE  CASSIE  CHADWICK  CASE 

The  half  of  Cassie  Chadwick's  colossal  swindles 
has  never  been  known,  and  probably  never  will 
be;  and  much  that  is  known  will  never  be  di- 
vulged. It  is  not  until  now,  in  these  pages,  that  1 
have  been  able  to  make  public  the  incidents  of  her 
long  and  successful  career  in  the  smuggling  line, 
which  came  under  my  notice  during  my  connection 
with  the  Treasury  Department,  as  their  special 
agent.  That  the  knowledge  of  this  particular 
phase  of  her  varied  criminality  did  not  extend  out- 
side the  Official  Ear  is  due  to  the  fact  that  at  the 
time  of  her  prosecution,  1903,  in  Columbus,  Ohio, 
she  was  indicted  only  for  certain  individual 
fraudulent  transactions,  and  exclusive  of  Govern- 
ment fraud. 

Although  six  years  dim  remembrance  some- 
what, my  visual  memory  clearly  recalls  this  won- 
derful woman  as  I  first  met  her  in  1902 ;  alone  in 
the  great  saloon  of  the  steamer  Kaiser  Wilhelm 
der  Grosse;  outwardly  an  unassuming,  conser- 
vative, well-bred  woman  of  about  sixty-five  years; 
tall  and  slender,  with  iron-grey  hair,  unpro- 
nounced   features,    and   intelligent,    dark     eyes; 

324 


CASSIE  CHADWICK  CASE  325 

quietly  but  richly  dressed — a  sort  of  well-gowned 
Hetty  Green;  a  woman  who,  even  in  small  gath- 
erings, would  not  have  attracted  attention,  either 
favorably  or  unfavorably,  as  it  seemed  to  me.  Yet 
this  physically  inconspicuous  figure  was,  as  the 
world  knew  later,  a  veritable  colossus  of  achieve- 
ment, in  her  own  unlawful  line,  whose  woman's 
wit  outwitted  the  brains  and  experience  of  some 
of  our  most  noted  financiers;  and  who,  also,  as  I 
shall  prove  in  this  story,  successfully  depleted  one 
of  the  most  essential  branches  of  United  States 
revenue  until  the  time  of  her  arrest. 

I  have  frequently  been  solicited,  by  newspaper 
representatives  whom  I  would  have  liked  to  favor, 
to  give  this  story  of  the  Chadwick  Smuggling  Case 
to  them;  but,  having  promised  certain  prominent 
persons  not  to  do  so,  pending  my  reinstatement 
in  the  Treasury  Department,  which  took  place  in 
1907,  I  was  obliged  to  refuse.  I  am  now,  there- 
fore, at  liberty  to  give  it  here,  just  as  I  know  it 
to  be  true,  without  exaggeration,  and  for  the  first 
time. 

Having  much  occasion,  in  my  work  under  the 
Goverimaent,  to  know  the  general  frailty  of  hu- 
man nature,  I  am  indeed  glad  that  I  was  not  called 
upon  at  the  trial  of  Cassie  Chadwick  to  cast  one 
stone  at  this  offending,  aged  woman  who,  after  a 
little  more  than  one  year's  imprisonment,  having 
been  suddenly  thrust  from  an  environment  of  lux- 
ury into  abject,  sordid  surroundings,  disgrace,  and 


32G   DEFEAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

the  world's  opprobrium,  succumbed  speedily  un- 
der this  combined  misery  to  the  heavy  destroying 
hand  of  sickness — that  avenger  of  the  rich  and 
poor  alike,  the  Nemesis  that  overtakes  us  all — and 
expiated  her  sins  in  death.  When  the  dark  clouds 
of  merited  disgrace  enveloped  her  in  that  twilight 
of  final  obscurity  from  which  she  never  emerged, 
the  bold  and  scheming  heart  that  had  never  failed 
her  before  grew  faint,  and  she  withered  in  the 
presence  of  One  with  whom  she  had  never  before 
been  confronted.  The  iron-grey  hair  whitened, 
the  spirit  flagged;  the  once  erect  frame  became 
bowed — and  so  ended  one  of  the  most  sensational 
criminal  cases  of  the  day,  the  true  inwardness  of 
which  evaded  the  brightest  legal  lights. 

Every  one  who  reads  knows  the  facts  of  Cassie 
Chadwick's  final  detection,  apprehension  and 
bringing  to  justice;  but  comparatively  few  know 
that  she  was  one  of  the  most  successful  smugglers 
of  her  age.  As  early  as  1902  the  late  Cassie  Chad- 
wick  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  who  was  later  embroiled 
with  certain  bankers  of  Ohio  and  rich  men  of 
Pittsburg,  financially,  had  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  Custom  House  officers,  as  a  probable  smug- 
gler of  jewelry,  and  was  already  under  the  surveil- 
lance of  their  force.  As  a  special  agent  of  the 
Treasury  Department  I  first  became  associated 
with  the  "Chadwick  Snuiggling  Case"  on  one  of 
my  trips  to  Europe,  ]\Iay  17, 1902,  and  became  cog- 
nizant of  her  methods  of  ordering  jewelry  and 


CASSIE  CHADWICK  CASE  327 

stones  in  Paris.  Major  Williams,  who  was  at  that 
time  in  charge  of  the  Paris  office,  and  myself,  hav- 
ing ascertained  that  she  had  an  arrangement  with 
a  certain  jeweler  there,  on  the  Rue-de-la-Paix,  to 
set  precious  stones  and  rare  jewels  to  order  for  her, 
finally  secured  a  clerk  in  the  employ  of  this  jeweler 
to  part  with  the  secrets  of  his  employer.  In  pursu- 
ance of  our  plan  with  this  clerk  it  was  agreed  that 
all  of  Cassie  Chadwick's  orders  should  be  dis- 
played in  the  window  of  this  jewelry  store,  and  in 
a  certain  prearranged  place,  in  certain  special 
boxes,  such  as  are  customarily  used  for  window 
displays  of  this  sort  in  jewelry  establishments. 
This  arrangement  was  carried  out,  and  in  this 
way  we  were  enabled  to  photograph  every  piece 
of  jewelry  belonging  to  her  and  give  an  accurate 
description  of  it.  So  that  at  that  time  we  were  in 
possession  of  absolute  reproductions  of  over  one 
hundred  different  articles  of  jewelry  which  had 
been  made  up  to  order  by  this  Rue-de-la-Paix 
jeweler  for  her;  this  alone  forming  most  convin- 
cing evidence  that  the  unfortunate  woman's  state- 
ment, which  she  made  in  court  at  the  time  of  her 
trial  and  conviction,  to  the  effect  that  she  did  not 
''import  merchandise  or  jewelry,"  was  a  perjured 
one. 

Up  to  this  time,  however,  in  spite  of  every  pos- 
sible effort,  so  carefully  did  Mrs.  Chadwick  guard 
her  movements  that  we  had  not  been  able  to  dis- 


328   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

cover  when,  or  on  what  steamers,  she  left  port 
either  in  America  or  Europe  on  her  many  trips, 
doubtless  made  for  smuggling  purposes ;  although 
she  was  always  accompanied  by  her  son  and 
daughter,  and  we  had  a  description  of  them  all. 
She  had  always  selected  the  steamships  and  routes 
least  likely  to  be  chosen  by  one  of  her  supposed 
wealth  and  position,  as  it  appeared ;  and  thus  had 
always  successfully  evaded  us.  Nevertheless,  the 
most  skillful  schemer  eventually  meets  his  coun- 
ter})art,  and  finally  it  was  learned  that  she  would 
arrive  from  Europe  on  the  steamer  Kaiser  Wil- 
helrn  der  Grosse,  June  17,  1902.  At  this  time  1 
was  in  New  York ;  so,  intent  on  meeting  this  clever- 
est of  women,  I  boarded  the  steamer  at  Quaran- 
tine; but,  as  I  found  that  this  same  information 
was  already  in  the  possession  of  other  special 
agents,  and  the  Surveyor's  staff,  I  did  not  take  any 
active  part,  any  more  than  is  here  related,  on  this 
jDarticular  occasion,  preferring  that  the  other 
agents  should  assume  the  initiative.  However, 
wishing  to  assure  myself  that  this  was  the  veri- 
table Cassie  Chadwick  who  was  under  suspicion, 
I  remained  carefully  watcliing  for  possible  devel- 
opments. Tt  was  then  the  custom  of  the  Govern- 
ment to  have  the  vessel  boarded  at  Quarantine  by 
the  Surveyor's  officers,  in  order  to  take  the  decla- 
ration of  the  passengers  en  route  between  Quar- 
antine and  the  steamship  pier.  When  the  vessel 
was  being  tied  to  the  pier  it  was  observed  that  all 


CASSIE  CHADWICK  CASE  329 

the  passengers,  save  one  elderly  woman,  had  left 
the  saloon  of  the  steamer,  and  that  she  remained 
sitting  there,  as  though  waiting  for  some  one ;  so, 
having  asked  the  Deputy  Collector  of  the  Port 
whether  the  passenger  listed  as  Mrs.  Chadwick 
had  made  her  declaration,  and  having  received  a 
negative  reply,  I  approached  the  seated  woman, 
saying :  '  *  Pardon  me,  madam,  but  have  you  made 
your  declaration?"  She  replied  that  she  had  not 
yet  done  so,  owing  to  the  fact  that  she  was  unac- 
quainted with  the  necessary  preliminaries  for  so 
doing.  Having  then  asked  her  name,  and  being 
informed  by  her  that  it  was  Chadwick,  my  suspi- 
cion that  she  was  waiting  for  some  influential 
friend,  or  friends,  to  help  smuggle  her  possessions 
on  shore,  was  thoroughly  aroused.  Avowed  igno- 
rance of  the  simple  act  of  "declaration"  from  one 
who  traveled  abroad  so  frequently  was,  of  course, 
an  obvious  misrepresentation,  and  obviously  given 
for  the  purpose  of  diverting  any  possible  suspi- 
cion from  her.  However,  I  accepted  her  statement 
in  apparent  good  faith,  and,  offering  my  services 
— as  any  gentleman  would  have  done  to  a  woman 
so  alone,  so  unsophisticated  and  inexperienced — 
conducted  her  to  the  Deputy  Collector,  who  re- 
ceived her  declaration,  in  response  to  the  usual 
questions.  According  to  her  statement  the  duti- 
able articles  in  her  possession  consisted  only  of 
some  "second-hand,  unstrung  pearls  and  a  few 
pieces  of  jewelry"   (just  what  would  constitute 


330   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

a  ''second-liand"  pearl  I've  never  yet  been  able 
to  determine;  but  the  Deputy  received  the  decla- 
ration without  flinching)  of  no  relative  value.  And 
though  these  pearls  were  unstrung  they  formed  a 
complete  necklace  on  which,  and  the  small  articles 
of  jewelry  above  mentioned,  the  revenue  officers 
collected  about  ten  thousand  dollars  at  the  60  per 
cent,  rate  of  duty. 

After  this  incident  I  heard  no  more  concerning 
the  Chadwick  party  for  some  time  until  I  took  an- 
other trip  to  Europe  during  that  same  summer. 
Arriving  there,  Special  Agent  Williams  and  my- 
self received  valuable  information,  through  a  re- 
liable source,  to  the  effect  that  Cassie  Chadwick 
was  known  to  be  a  purchaser  of  jewelry  and  unset 
stones  in  large  sums,  all  this  information  tending 
undeniably  to  prove  that  she  was  a  dealer  in  this 
class  of  goods,  selling  them  to  her  special  clique 
of  wealthy  customers  in  all  the  large  cities  of  the 
United  States,  and  especially  in  Cleveland  and 
Pittsburg. 

One  day  in  the  latter  part  of  1902,  having  again 
returned  to  the  United  States,  in  pursuance  of  my 
official  duties,  as  I  was  glancing  through  an  Eve- 
ning Telegram  my  attention  was  arrested  by  a 
lieadliner  containing  the  name  Chadwick.  The 
article  stated  that  a  Mrs.  Chadwick  of  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  had  lost  some  jewelry  in  a  sleeper  on  her 
way  from  Pittsburg  to  New  York  over  the  Penn- 
sylvania Railroad;  and  that  she  had  offered  a  re- 


CASSIE  CHADWICK  CASE  331 

ward  for  the  return  of  the  jewelry,  which  had  been 
found  by  one  of  the  porters  and  given  to  Chief  of 
Police  Murphy  of  Jersey  City.  Hailing  the  con- 
ductor and  jumping  from  the  car  that  was  bear- 
ing me  homeward  to  the  upper  part  of  Manhattan 
I  entered  the  Hotel  Endicott  and  telephoned  my 
family  that  they  need  not  await  dinner  for  me.  I 
then  hurriedly  proceeded  to  call  on  Chief  Murphy, 
with  whom  I  was  on  friendly  terms,  telling  him 
that  I  was  on  my  way  to  Jersey  City  to  see  this 
jewelry  that  had  been  lost  by  Mrs.  Chadwick,  and 
which  was  now  in  his  possession.  He  said  Mrs. 
Chadwick  was  coming  to  his  office  at  eight  o  'clock 
on  that  same  evening  and  that  as  soon  as  she  had 
paid  the  reward  offered  he  should  return  the  jew- 
elry to  her,  so  I  arranged  with  him  to  be  present 
at  police  headquarters  at  the  time  of  her  expected 
arrival,  but  went  there  earlier,  at  seven-thirty,  in 
order  to  inspect  the  jewelry,  which  proved  to  be  of 
no  especial  value.  I  then  asked  him  to  permit  me 
to  sit  in  an  inner  room  adjoining  his  private  of- 
fice and  await  Mrs.  Chadwick 's  coming  there,  so 
that  without  being  seen  by  her  I  might  determine 
whether  she  were  the  well-known  Cassie  Chadwick 
or  some  other  woman  bearing  the  same  name.  He 
willingly  complied  with  my  request  and  placed  me 
in  his  bedroom  in  such  a  position  that  through  the 
open  door  I  could  plainly  see  the  occupants  of  his 
office,  being  in  the  dark  myself,  and  at  such  an 
angle  that,  though  seeing,  I  was  yet  unseen. 


332   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

Mrs.  Chadwick  arrived  promptly  at  the  hour  of 
eight,  accompanied  by  an  elderly  lady  and  gentle- 
man whom  I  did  not  know,  and  the  Chief  seated 
her  in  line  with  my  point  of  vantage  and  in  such 
a  position  that  she  nearly  faced  me,  so  that  I  easily 
recognized  her  as  Cassie  Chadwick.  She  identified 
the  jewelry,  paid  the  offered  reward  to  the  Chief 
for  the  finder  of  her  property,  and  the  trio  then 
departed.  I  remained  only  long  enough  to  ascer- 
tain from  Chief  Murphy  that  Mrs.  Chadwick 's  ad- 
dress was  at  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel  in  New  York 
City;  and  then  hastened  after  them,  hoping  I 
might  overtake  the  carriage  in  which  they  arrived 
before  it  reached  the  Twenty-third  Street  ierry, 
but  unfortunately  there  was  neither  car  nor  con- 
veyance in  sight  when  I  left  headquarters,  so  that 
considerable  time  was  lost  before  I  reached  the 
ferry-house,  and  I  found  the  Chadwick  party  had 
embarked  on  a  boat  ahead  of  me.  I  followed  on 
the  next  one,  and  proceeded  directly  to  the  hotel. 
Being  known  by  the  hotel  clerk,  I  asked  for  the  as- 
sistance of  his  house  detective  as  a  witness  in  the 
transaction  in  which  I  was  about  to  be  engaged; 
but  he  was  unfortunately  absent,  so  I  obtained  the 
number  of  the  suite  of  rooms  occupied  by  Mrs. 
Chadwick,  ])roceeded  to  the  second  floor  without 
being  announced,  and  knocked.  In  response  a  neat 
young  woman,  who  proved  to  be  Mrs.  Chadwick 's 
maid,  came  to  the  door.  As  it  swung  outward  I 
placed  my  foot  in  the  opening  and  advanced  my 


CASSIE  CHADWICK  CASE  333 

body  sufficiently  to  insure  admittance,  asking  that 
she  present  my  card  to  her  mistress.  As  the  maid 
naturally  questioned  the  nature  of  my  business,  I 
again  instructed  her  simply  to  take  my  card  to 
Mrs,  Chadwick.  It  was  my  official  one,  and  read 
as  follows:  "W.  H.  Theobald,  United  States 
Treasury  Department,  Custom  House,  N.  Y.," 
which  probably  enlightened  her  as  to  the  purpose 
of  my  visit.  After  a  delay  of  about  ten  minutes 
Mrs.  Chadwick,  attired  in  an  exquisite,  soft,  quilt- 
ed Chinese  kimono,  came  from  the  room  adjoining 
that  in  which  I  was  waiting,  holding  my  card  in 
her  hand,  and  haughtily  demanded,  with  a  well- 
assumed  air  of  the  utmost  surprise:  "How  dare 
you  intrude  upon  my  privacy  without  being  an- 
nounced!" One  whose  profession  it  is  to  evade 
the  law  must  naturally  be  prepared  to  meet  detec- 
tion lurking  at  every  corner  and  imminent  at  any 
moment.  Mrs.  Chadwick,  pre-eminent  in  this  re- 
spect, was  cool,  quick-witted  and  alert.  She  knew 
her  own  rights  in  a  case  of  this  sort,  and  her  pres- 
ence of  mind  never  deserted  her  for  a  single  mo- 
ment during  our  interview.  Defrauding  the  Gov- 
ernment as  a  smuggler  is  treated  mildly,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  general  policy,  since  restitution  of  the 
amount  of  avoidance  of  duties  restores  the  Gov- 
ernment to  its  own  again,  and  so  annuls  the  fault; 
and  she  whose  colossal,  and  much  more  danger- 
ous, machinations  had  for  so  many  years  eluded 
discovery  was  by  no  means  dismayed  at  the  turn 


334   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

of  affairs  that  brought  me  to  her  door  in  search 
of  contraband  goods. 

I  recognized  her  at  once,  disjjlaj^ed  my  shield, 
told  her  most  courteously  that  I  regretted  very 
much  being  obliged  to  resort  to  this  method  of  in- 
trusion, but  that  my  visit  was,  as  she  was  now 
made  aware,  an  official  one,  and  that,  as  a  Govern- 
ment rei:)resentative,  I  had  come  to  ask  her  to  give 
up  the  diamond  necklace  which  she  had  smuggled 
into  this  country  on  June  17,  1902.  She  pro- 
fessed to  be  still  more  indignant  and  amazed,  and, 
with  a  convincing  attitude  of  injured  innocence, 
declared  vehemently  that  she  would  have  me  ar- 
rested for  daring  to  insult  her  in  this  manner! 
Upon  my  still  persisting  that  she  must  produce 
the  diamond  necklace  she  continued  to  equivocate, 
maintaining  that  she  had  no  proof  that  I  was  what 
I  represented  myself  to  be.  To  this  I  responded 
by  inviting  her  to  summon  the  hotel  clerk  to  her 
room  to  vouch  for  the  fact  that  I  was  a  special 
agent  of  the  Treasury  Department.  She  then 
asked  me  if  I  had  a  search-warrant,  proving  an 
intimate  knowledge  of  the  requirements  of  my  de- 
mands in  this  matter.  I  had  none,  but  assured  her 
that  if  she  still  refused  to  comply  with  my  request 
I  should  remain  at  the  hotel  until  morning,  and 
then  secure  a  seai-ch-warrant;  and  that  if  I  then 
found  the  necklace  in  her  possession  T  would  place 
her  under  arrest,  as  I  had  positive  information 
against  her  in  regard  to  this  diamond  necklace. 


CASSIE  CHADWICK  CASE  335 

Finally,  after  much  more  bandying  of  words  to 
the  same  effect,  she  promised  that  she  would  be  at 
the  office  of  the  Collector  of  Customs,  N.  N.  Stran- 
ahan,  at  nine-thirty  the  following  morning,  and 
that  she  would  bring  the  diamond  necklace  with 
her,  which  she  stated  was  not  on  the  premises  at 
that  time,  being  in  a  safety  deposit  vault  down- 
town. I  then  took  leave  of  her,  but  before  return- 
ing to  my  home  I  placed  a  detective  on  guard  to 
watch  her  movements  for  the  night.  His  report  in 
the  morning  showed  that  many  telegrams  had  been 
sent  and  messages  received  until  a  late  hour  that 
night,  but  that  Mrs.  Chadwick  had  not  left  the 
hotel  at  any  time. 

She  failed  to  appear  at  the  Collector's  office  at 
nine-thirty  the  following  morning,  as  promised; 
but  came  there  at  eleven  o'clock.  In  the  mean- 
time, before  she  arrived,  I  had  related  the  entire 
affair  concerning  my  visits  to  police  headquarters 
in  Jersey  City,  and  my  call  on  her  at  the  Fifth 
Avenue  Hotel,  to  the  Collector,  and  had  assured 
him  that  if  he  would  hold  the  necklace  in  his  pos- 
session for  a  short  time  I  should  be  able  to  give 
him  evidence,  corroborated  by  Special  Agent  Wil- 
liams of  Paris,  that  would  not  only  be  the  means 
of  condemning  this  diamond  necklace,  but  of  all 
the  jewelry  reconstructed  and  purchased  abroad 
that  year  by  Cassie  Chadwick,  which  had  been  sold 
to  some  of  the  wealthy  families  of  Pittsburg  and 
other  large  cities.     To  my  unmitigated  surprise, 


336   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

after  Mrs.  Cliadwick  had  stated  to  Collector  Stran- 
ahan  that  she  had  purchased  all  the  stones  that 
formed  the  necklace  in  different  stores  in  Amer- 
ica, in  order  to  match  them  perfectly,  and  that  she 
had  then  taken  them  abroad  with  her  and  had  them 
mounted  in  Paris,  the  necklace  was  returned  to 
her  without  further  comment  or  question  from 
him.  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that,  according  to  the 
revised  statutes,  all  merchandise  taken  from  the 
United  States  and  conveyed  to  foreign  countries, 
and  there  reconstructed,  is  dutiable  on  return  to 
the  United  States  at  the  regular  rate  of  60  per 
cent.  I  refer  to  jewelry  of  course.  In  all  my  of- 
ficial career  this  was  the  first  and  only  time  that 
I  ever  knew  of  an  exception  being  made  to  this 
law  in  any  case.  Therefore  my  great  astonish- 
ment at  this  act  on  the  part  of  the  Collector. 

AVlien  Mrs.  Chadwick  left  the  office  in  unchal- 
lenged possession  of  her  diamond  necklace  of  al- 
most fabulous  worth  I  told  Collector  Stranahan 
frankly  that  he  had  made  a  very  serious  mistake 
and  prophesied  tliat  some  day  Cassie  Chadwick 
would  be  caught  red-handed,  and  the  fact  clearly 
proven  that  she  was  the  most  notorious  smuggler 
in  America — even  more  so  than  Max  J.  Lasar,  who 
was  acknowledged  to  be  the  greatest  diamond 
smuggler  this  country  has  ever  known. 

Tlie  following  copy  of  a  consular  invoice,  taken 
from  the  files  of  the  consulate  of  Brussels — as  well 
as  many  others  of  the  same  order,  which  sj^ace 


CASSIE  CHADWICK  CASE  337 

does  not  permit  introducing  here — gives  irrefuta- 
ble evidence  of  Cassie  Cliadwick's  business  as 
an  importer  and  undervaluer.  And  each  and  every 
article  enumerated  on  this  invoice  is  undervalued 
no  less  than  200  j^er  cent.  This  again  refutes  her 
testimony  at  the  time  of  her  trial  and  conviction, 
which  was  to  the  effect  that  she  did  not  "import 
merchandise  or  jewelry."  Cassie  Chadwick  smug- 
gled into  the  United  States,  during  her  lifetime, 
over  two  million  dollars  worth  of  merchandise, 
which,  with  60  per  cent,  tariff  added,  constitutes  a 
home  value  of  three  million  dollars. 


Brussels,  le  7  December,  1901. — Copy. 

Brussels,  Consular  No.  2124. 
Amount  Francs,  4, .570. 
Consular  Fee,  $2.50. 

Consular  Fee,   Francs,  13. 

INVOICE. 

Invoice  of  5  boxes  of  objects  of  art  purchased  by  Madame 
Chadwick,  of  New  York  (U.  S.  A.),  from  Mr.  Nosset,  of  Brus- 
sels, to  be  shipped  per  Vaderland. 

Marks  Amounts 

and  Consular 

Numbers.  Description.  Price.  Corrections. 

BoxNo.l.— 3  Statuettes    i voire 33  100 

1  Motif  ivoire —  50 

1  Petit  vase  ivoire —  50 

1  Coffret   ivoire —  65 

1  Service  pour  Bebe  metal  dore.  —  15 

2  Plaques     peinture     sur     por- 

celaine  25  50 

Forward   330 


338   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 


Marks  Amounts 

and  Consular 

Numbers.  Description.  Price.  Corrections. 

Brought  forward 330 

5  Boites    papier    a    lettres    et 

enveloppes 2  10 

1  Ivoire  sculpte —  40 

1  Marbre  sculpte —  15 

1  Plaque    peinture    sur    porce- 

laine —  20 

5  Bouchons  en  corne  du  cerf . . .  2  10 
5  Tasses    et    soustasses    porce- 

laine  Saxe  decore 5  25 

1  Tasse  et  soustasse  avec  cou- 

vercle —  5 

2  Ivoires  encadres 40  80 

1  Groupe    porcelaine     Amours 

a  I'arbre —  45 

1  Plat    capo    di    Monte    porce- 

laine    —  35 

2  Petites  peintures  sur  toile. . .     7.50        15 

1  Petit  ecran  en  ivoire —  20 

1  Statuette  equestre  ivoire —  40 

1  Petite  coupe  ivoire —  40 

1  Assiette  avec  peinture  (porce- 
laine)     —  25 

1  Plaque    peinture    porcelaine 

Vienne  —  40 

5  Assiettes  porcelaine  Vienne. .  40  200 

6  Tasses    et    soustasses    porce- 

laine Blanche 2  10 

1,005 

Box  No.  2.— 1  Broc  ivoire —  1,000 

1  Char  Empire  ivoire —  375 

1  Petit  bronze —  15 

1  Petit  broc  ivoire  et  argent. . .  —  375 

1  Peinture  sur  toile —  100 

1,865 

Box  No.  3. — 5  Tapis   d'orient   en   soit   1    de 

100,  4  de  150 —  700 

2  Couverture  laine 10  20 

Forward  720 


CASSIE  CHADWICK  CASE  339 

Marks  Amounts 

and  Consular 

Numbers.  Description.  Price.  Corrections. 

Brought  forward 720 

6  Morceaux  brocand  ancien,  le 

lot —  42 

1  Morceau  brocand  ancien —  15 

1  Lot  5  armoiries —  8 

2  Chassubles  brodees  ancien  et  150 

accessoirs    130  280 

1  Petit  tapis  Aubusson —  20 

1  Petit  tapis  orient —  15 

1,100 

Box  No.  4. — 1  Fauteuil  Empire  avec  bronze.  —  300        300 

Box  No.  5. — 1  Fauteuil  Empire  avec  bronze.  —  300        300 

Valeur  francs 4,570 

Valeur  totale 4,570 

Signature  of  purchaser  or  seller  or  agent  of  either  (signed) 

A.  NOSSET. 

After  the  diamond  necklace  was  returned  to 
Cassia  Chadwick  by  Collector  Stranalian  nothing 
further  was  ever  done  towards  apprehending  her 
for  smuggling.  At  the  time  when  she  was  arrested 
on  the  other  charges  and  came  up  for  trial  I  was 
not  called  upon  to  add  my  testimony  to  the  mass 
of  proof  that  was  unearthed  against  her  as  a  swin- 
dler. I  might  have  presented  to  the  courts  my 
evidence  in  connection  with  my  investigations  of 
her  smuggling  career,  but  this  particular  form  of 
her  many  offenses  did  not  come  to  the  front  im- 
peratively ;  and  at  that  time  I  was  out  of  the  serv- 
ice, and  chose  to  remain  silent.  Of  course  if  I 
had  been  summoned  to  court  for  the  purpose  of 
testifying  I  would  have  done  so  fearlessly,  con- 


340   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

scientiously  and  fully.  She  died  in  prison  in  Col- 
umbus, Ohio,  after  being  convicted.  On  the  day 
of  her  death  a  newspaper  representative  from  one 
of  the  large  Manhattan  dailies  called  on  me  at  my 
residence,  saying  that  he  had  received  authoriza- 
tion from  Collector  Stranahan  to  call  and  see  me 
for  the  puri30se  of  requesting  the  story  of  Cassie 
Chadwick's  smuggling  record,  to  be  given  out  for 
publication.  I  replied  that  if  he  would  bring  me 
a  letter  from  the  Collector,  proffering  this  request, 
I  would  willingly  comply.  But  this  newspaper 
representative  never  returned,  and  Collector 
Stranahan  never  sent  me  any  letter  asking  me  to 
give  the  story  to  the  papers. 

The  incidents  of  Cassie  Chadwick's  sensational 
career,  which  were  made  known  to  the  public  when 
the  great  expose  of  her  swindling  transactions 
with  Ohio  bankers  and  Pittsburg  magnates  filled 
the  newspaper  columns  for  over  a  year,  still 
awaken  echoes  of  wonderment  when  recalled — at 
the  marvelous  ingenuity  and  shrewdness  of  this 
woman,  who  also  possessed  the  necessary  finesse 
and  daring  to  carry  out  the  schemes  she  evolved, 
PVom  the  very  hour  of  discovery  the  magnitude  of 
her  illegal  achievements  brought  her  international 
notoriety.  Such  characters  leave  an  impress  on 
the  imagination  of  those  of  their  day,  the  psycho- 
logical eft'ect  of  which  is  an  incalculable  and  un- 
known quantity. 


CASSIE  CHAD"WICK  CASE  341 

Criminologists,  psychologists,  and  scientists — 
each  and  all — according  to  their  particular  trend 
of  theory,  attempt  to  explain  the  causes  and  con- 
ditions, generic  and  specific,  that  result  in  these 
isolated  cases  of  criminal  genius  which,  happily, 
occur  with  the  usual  rarity  of  the  advent  of 
geniuses  in  every  line — even  literary  and  artistic; 
but  the  problem  still  remains  a  vexing  and  mooted 
one. 

Probably  if  the  mental  processes  of  Cassie 
Chadwick  could  have  been  known  it  would  have 
been  found  that  she  justified  her  conduct  of  life  to 
herself — as  do  many  others — on  the  theory  that 
the  world  owed  her  a  living  equivalent  to  her  brain 
power,  and  according  to  the  light  aj^portioned  her 
to  determine  what  constituted  for  her  the  stand- 
ards of  happiness  to  which  she  wished  to  attain; 
and  that  her  conscience — if  awakened  at  all — did 
so  tardily,  latent  until  aroused  by  the  overwhelm- 
ing miseries  attendant  upon  her  detected  guilt. 

One  who  regarded  the  world  from  the  humorous 
side  alone  might  grimly  soliloquize  that,  after  all, 
it  is  only  one  of  Fate's  little  ironies  that  Cassie 
Chadwick  should  fall  under  the  universal  law: 
that  "big  fleas  have  little  fleas  to  bite  'em,"  and 
that,  either  here  or  hereafter,  the  flea  is  probably 
caught  at  last. 

But,  summing  up,  one  word  might  be  said  to 
soften  the  heinousness  of  this  woman's  many  of- 
fenses:   though   she   defrauded    the   nation   and 


342   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

swindled  our  magnates,  at  least  she  did  not  plun- 
der the  poor.  Keep  this  charitable  thought  with 
you,  reader,  rather  than  the  remembrance  of  her 
sins. 


SMUGGLING  A  WEDDING  PRESENT 

Women  have  smuggled  for  their  husbands  and 
men  have  violated  the  customs  regulations  for 
their  disreputable  women,  but  it  is  unusual  to  find 
a  young  girl  aiding  in  the  smuggling  of  valuables 
that  are  intended  as  her  own  wedding  present. 
Philip  S.  Murry  was  engaged  to  a  sister  of  Joe 
Miller,  the  copper  millionaire.  The  world  at  large 
generally  displays  a  marked  interest  in  those  for- 
eigners who  are  destined  to  marry  American  beau- 
ties, particularly  when  the  intended  bride  has 
money  and  social  standing. 

Like  the  rest  of  the  world,  I  viewed  the  coming 
of  Mr.  Murry  with  some  interest,  but  my  interest 
was  purely  of  a  business  nature.  When  he  came, 
on  March  17,  1900,  in  the  Cunard  Line  steamer 
Campania,  I  was  among  the  most  ardent  of  his 
admirers.  There  was  an  immense  party  of  ladies 
at  the  pier  to  greet  him,  and  a  bevy  of  these  were 
the  sisters  of  Mr.  Miller. 

Like  the  majority  of  foreigner  bridegrooms-to- 
be,  Mr.  Murry  was  quite  suave  with  the  customs 
officials  who  went  down  the  bay  to  take  the  decla- 

343 


344   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

rations.  Mr.  Murry  liad  a  poor  memory  for  de- 
tails, but  he  was  quite  sure  that  he  had  nothiug 
valuable  to  declare.  What  was  the  use  of  carry- 
ing coals  to  Newcastle!  He  had  innumerable 
l^ieces  of  baggage,  as  became  his  ambitions,  and 
had  a  temjDer  into  the  bargain  when  it  became  nec- 
essary to  display  it.  He  became  grievously  in- 
sulted when  I  went  to  him  and  suggested  that 
there  might  be  a  possibility  of  his  having  neglected 
to  closely  examine  his  conscience  or  even  his  vul- 
gar baggage. 

"PerhajDs  you  are  not  acquainted  with  the  law," 
I  said  to  him.  ' '  If  you  are  bringing  over  any  pres- 
ents to  give  to  anybody  in  the  United  States,  it 
is  a  clear  violation  of  the  law,  since  you  have  not 
declared  them.  Upon  the  examination  of  your 
baggage,  if  anything  dutiable  be  found,  you  may 
find  yourself  in  a  very  unpleasant  predicament." 

''How  dare  you!"  he  said,  showing  the  whites 
of  his  eyes.  "I  am  a  gentleman,  and  you  should 
not  approach  me  on  such  a  subject.  I  have  brought 
nothing  to  be  given  away  and  have  nothing  of  any 
value  outside  of  ray  personal  effects." 

Shortly  after  this  conversation  I  saw  Mr. 
Murry 's  fiancee  shove  her  hand  in  his  raglan  coat 
pocket  and  withdraw  a  package  that  was  wrapped 
in  white  tissue  paper.  She  saw  that  she  was  being 
watched  and  quickly  replaced  the  parcel.  Four 
times  after  this  incident  I  spoke  to  Mr.  Murry,  re- 
minding him  of  the  rigor  of  the  law,  but  each  time 


SMUGGLING  A  WEDDING  PRESENT  345 

he  scowled  at  me  and  insisted  he  had  nothing  that 
concerned  this  blessed  Government.  But  I  was  so 
certain  that  he  had  diamonds  or  other  precious 
stones  with  him  that  I  finally  said : 

''Mr.  Murry,  I  want  you  to  show  me  the  trunk 
in  which  you  have  concealed  those  diamonds.  I 
do  not  want  any  nonsense  about  it,  either." 

A  look  of  despair  overspread  his  face,  and,  fol- 
lowing a  pause  of  several  seconds,  he  pointed  at 
the  smallest  trunk  in  his  collection.  ''They  are  in 
there, ' '  he  said. 

Under  a  lot  of  magazines  in  the  bottom  of  this 
trunk  we  found  a  pearl  necklace.  In  a  new  dress- 
ing-case which  he  was  bringing  over  for  his  in- 
tended bride  we  found,  wrapped  up  in  a  lot  of 
English  newspapers,  a  gorgeous  bracelet.  He  in- 
sisted that  these  were  all,  but  I  reminded  him  that 
he  had  something  in  the  pocket  of  his  raglan  that 
might  be  dutiable,  and  he  immediately  produced 
the  package  that  his  promised  wife  had  tried  to 
remove  to  her  own  safekeeping. 

This  package  consisted  of  a  beautiful  pearl-and- 
diamond  ring  of  considerable  value,  I  handed 
Mr.  Murry  over  to  the  inspector  and  had  him  ar- 
raigned before  a  United  States  Commissioner.  Mr. 
Miller  gave  bail  for  his  appearance  in  the  sum  of 
two  thousand  dollars.  An  appraisement  of  the 
jewels  by  the  Collector  put  a  value  of  $17,935.70. 


346   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

The  case  was  presented  to  the  court  and  compro- 
mised by  the  department  on  the  payment  of  the 
duty.  The  balance  of  the  goods  were  rebonded 
and  returned  to  London. 


MRS.  RUBINS  AND  HER  LINENS 

Still  another  instance  of  dishonesty  on  the  part 
of  Government  employees  is  represented  in  the 
case  of  a  Mrs.  Rubins.  For  some  time  before  my 
attention  was  called  to  the  case  huge  quantities 
of  imported  linens  were  being  offered  for  sale  at 
a  price  that  conveyed  the  impression  that  they 
were  smuggled,  or  otherwise  unlawfully  secured. 
The  goods  consisted  of  the  finest  kinds  of  table- 
cloths, napkins,  bed-spreads,  toweling  and  the  like. 

It  looked  at  first  as  if  there  was  no  limit  to  the 
circulation  of  this  linen,  and  for  this  reason  no 
great  trouble  was  experienced  in  ascertaining  who 
was  distributing  it.  Mrs.  Rubins,  I  found,  lived 
in  Ri\dngton  Street,  between  Orchard  and  Ludlow 
streets,  a  part  of  Manhattan  that  is  thickly  inhab- 
ited by  Hebrews.  She  had  many  envious  friends, 
who  did  not  hesitate  to  inf  oiTn  me  that  the  woman, 
accompanied  by  her  husband,  had  but  lately  ar- 
rived from  Germany  in  the  steerage  of  the  steamer 
Auguste  Victoria. 

Being  steerage  passengers,  the  Rubinses  did  not 
have  to  make  any  declaration  to  the  custom  offi- 
cials, as  is  required  by  law  in  the  case  of  other 

347 


348   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

ocean  travelers.  Although  this  formality  is  waived 
in  behalf  of  third-class  passengers,  for  the  obvious 
reason  that  not  one  in  twenty-five  has  anything 
dutiable  upon  arrival,  there  is,  nevertheless,  an 
examination  of  steerage  luggage  on  the  steamship 
pier  before  the  owners  of  the  same  go  to  Ellis 
Island  for  Immigration  Bureau  purposes.  I  over- 
hauled the  records  for  this  particular  trip  of  the 
Auguste  Victoria,  but  was  unable  to  produce  any 
record  of  the  entry  of  the  goods. 

When  the  attention  of  the  United  States  District 
Attorney  was  called  to  the  matter  bj^  me,  he  ad- 
vised that  the  Surveyor  of  the  Port  be  instructed 
to  send  to  me  for  examination  the  four  inspectors 
who  were  on  duty  at  the  pier  the  day  the  passen- 
gers of  the  Auguste  Victoria  disembarked. 

Mrs.  Rubins  was  an  odd  creature.  She  had  odd 
ways,  an  odd  eye,  which  was  glass,  and  as  odd  a 
head  of  red  hair  as  a  comb  ever  touched.  She  pos- 
sessed an  odd  parrot,  too,  and  this  noisy  bird,  I 
learned  from  some  of  the  dock  officials,  she  carried 
ashore  when  she  landed.  I  felt  sure  that  if  the 
inspectors  did  not  remember  the  celebrated  red 
hair,  they  were  sure  to  recall  the  artificial  eye  or 
the  talkative  parrot.  But  they  proved  to  be  the 
most  ignorant  quartette  T  ever  encountered. 

There  was  no  mistaking  the  fact  that  a  fraud 
had  been  committed,  however,  and  I  deteiTQined 
to  make  the  affidavit  myself  to  the  District  Attor- 
ney in  order  to  secure  my  search  warrant.    If  the 


MRS.  RUBINS'  LINENS  349 

inspectors'  memory  was  deficient,  I  liad  hopes  that 
such  would  not  be  the  case  with  Mrs.  Rubins,  who, 
I  felt  satisfied,  would  point  out  to  me  the  inspec- 
tor who  passed  her  baggage.  I  therefore  insisted 
that  the  four  inspectors  accompany  me  to  her 
house.  We  were  about  to  enter,  when  a  woman 
came  out  and  walked  leisurely  up  the  street.  One 
of  the  inspectors  said : 

* '  I  think  that  is  the  woman  you  are  after.  I  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  passing  of  her  baggage,  but 
I  recognize  her." 

I  sent  the  man  after  her,  but  she  refused  to  re- 
turn. She  was  a  giantess  in  appearance  and  looked 
capable  of  beating  the  famed  Thalestris  herself. 
I  compelled  her  by  sheer  force  to  show  her  apart- 
ments. When  we  entered,  a  tall,  gentle-looking 
man  sat  at  a  table  in  the  dining-room.  The  woman 
belabored  him  with  a  convenient  broom  the  mo- 
ment she  entered  and  shouted  in  German  that  his 
bad  advice  was  responsible  for  our  invasion.  He 
did  not  have  a  ghost  of  a  chance  with  her,  for  she 
wielded  the  important  household  article  with  the 
muscle  of  an  Amazon. 

Several  of  the  inspectors,  believing  that  their 
turn  was  to  come  next,  literally  embraced  that 
side  of  the  cause  which  seemed  to  stand  very  little 
in  need  of  assistance.  The  husband,  as  the  meek, 
tall  man  proved  to  be,  finally  succeeded  in  check- 
ing the  torrent  that  seemed  to  have  no  end  to  its 
flowing. 


350    DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

Tears  followed  the  outburst  of  anger,  and  when 
this  salty  flood  had  ceased  Mrs.  Rubins  invited  me 
into  an  adjoining  room.  I  felt  relieved  to  observe 
that  she  dropped  the  broom  as  I  stepped  forward 
to  comply  with  the  request.  This  room  I  found 
to  be  a  wonder  in  itself.  It  was  about  fifteen  feet 
square,  and  around  its  sides  were  built  several 
shelves,  on  which  were  piled  a  lot  of  packages, 
which  I  afterwards  found  contained  the  linens  for 
which  I  was  seeking. 

The  collection  was  so  great  that  the  packages  on 
the  top  shelf  reached  clear  to  the  ceiling.  She 
readily  admitted  that  one  of  the  men  in  the  room 
we  had  just  left  had  passed  her  baggage  and  that 
she  had  paid  him  for  the  service  rendered. 

The  shelves  were  plainly  made  of  old  lumber 
and  bore  many  stencil  marks.  I  asked  the  woman 
who  had  made  the  shelves,  and  she  replied  that 
they  were  the  creation  of  a  carpenter  who  lived 
two  doors  away,  and  that  he  had  used  in  their  con- 
struction the  wood  of  the  cases  the  goods  in  ques- 
tion came  in. 

Mrs.  Rubins  pointed  out  the  guilty  inspector  the 
moment  we  returned  to  the  outer  room.  He  was 
indignant,  but  Mr.  Rubins,  having  sullenly  sub- 
mitted to  the  vigorous  conqueror,  now  endorsed 
what  his  wife  said.  I  called  an  express  wagon  and 
seized  the  entire  contents  of  the  room,  even  taking 
the  shelving.  The  latter  proved  to  be  splendid 
evidence. 


MRS.  RUBINS'  LINENS  351 

We  liad  to  figlit  our  way  out  of  the  house,  the 
screams  and  jorotests  of  Mrs.  Rubins  bringing  to 
her  aid  hundreds  of  Hebrews,  who  were  seem- 
ingly willing  to  take  long  chances  to  take  posses- 
sion of  the  linens  in  the  interest  of  Mrs.  Rubins. 
The  municipal  police  turned  out  reinforcements, 
however,  and  the  violent  application  of  stout  lo- 
custs on  the  vulnerable  spots  of  the  attacking 
party  soon  brought  the  mob  to  terms. 

While  the  exjDressmen  were  loading  up  the 
wagon  I  went  in  search  of  the  carpenter  who  had 
made  the  shelves.  In  his  shop  were  found  three 
of  the  covers  of  the  cases  that  the  linen  came  in, 
and  an  examination  of  these  tops  showed  in  chalk 
marks  the  accused  inspector's  figures  and  the  num- 
ber of  his  shield.  This  was  the  last  straw,  so  far 
as  his  claims  to  innocence  were  concerned.  He 
tried  to  brazen  it  out,  nevertheless. 

Mrs.  Rubins  made  a  stubborn  fight  to  prevent 
the  Government  getting  a  decree  of  confiscation. 
She  even  had  the  audacity  to  appeal  to  the  Hebrew 
Charities  to  fight  her  wicked  claims.  The  goods 
seized  were  appraised  at  thirty-five  hundred  dol- 
lars, but  represented  only  a  minor  portion  of  the 
original  importation.  The  United  States  Commis- 
sioner at  Jersey  City  decided  the  case  against  the 
woman.  About  the  same  time  the  inspector  whom 
she  had  bribed  to  rob  the  Government  was  dis- 
missed from  the  service. 


UNDERVALUATION  OF  MERCHANDISE 

Undervaluing  of  merchandise  is,  to  my  mind, 
the  meanest  kind  of  smuggling,  because  the  under- 
value!' frequently  makes  an  unwilling  tool  of  an 
unfortunate  examiner  of  merchandise  employed  at 
the  United  States  Public  Stores,  where  all  invoices 
and  merchandise  from  foreign  countries  to  the 
United  States  are  examined. 

It  is  a  custom  for  the  exporter  who  makes  a  con- 
sular invoice  at  some  United  States  consulate  in 
some  foreign  country  to  enumerate  on  his  invoice 
or  invoices  the  character  of  goods  and  prices  in 
the  usual  wholesale  quantities. 

To  give  you  an  idea  of  the  large  amount  of 
fraud  committed  against  the  Government  by 
importers  who  are  unscrupulous,  it  is  only  neces- 
sary for  you  to  refresh  your  memory  in  connection 
with  the  Rosenthal  case,  who  defrauded  the  Gov- 
ernment out  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  in 
the  importation  of  silks  from  China  and  Japan. 
Rosenthal  is  now  a  fugitive  and  living  in  Vienna. 

From  my  personal  experience  I  do  not  hesitate 
to  say  that  the  French  and  German  exporters  are 
the  ones  who  do  more  undervaluing  than  all  the 

352 


UNDERVALUATION  353 

other  foreign  countries  put  together.  The  Ap- 
praisers' Stores  at  the  Port  of  New  York  are  run 
on  a  purely  business  basis,  and  an  invoice  under- 
valued is  as  hard  to  pass  in  any  division  of  that 
great  institution  as  it  is  for  two  trains  to  pass 
each  other  going  on  the  same  track. 

All  manner  of  tricks  and  devices  are  used  by 
the  European  exporters  of  merchandise,  and  their 
latest  scheme  to  defraud  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment is  as  follows : 

It  is  the  law  that  the  exporter,  in  shipping  to 
the  United  States  an  article  manufactured  in 
France  at  five  francs,  cannot  sell  this  particular 
article  to  any  one  in  the  country  of  production 
(France)  for  more  than  five  francs,  but  he  can 
sell  to  any  country  other  than  France  for  more 
money.  If  it  can  be  shown  that  he  receives  more 
than  five  francs  for  the  same  article  which  he  is 
shipping  to  the  United  States,  his  invoices  can  be 
advanced  accordingly,  and  when  the  confidential 
agents  who  reside  in  Paris,  London,  Cologne,  Ber- 
lin or  St.  Gall  call  on  these  firms  who  are  underval- 
uing, the  excuse  is  usually  given  that  "the  prices 
we  are  making  for  other  countries  on  the  same 
goods  as  we  send  to  the  United  States  are  our  ex- 
port prices  and  the  article  is  not  the  same."  If 
asked  to  show  the  article,  they  produce  a  photo- 
graphic album  and  show  you  a  photograph  of  the 
supposed  article  in  question.  This  has  been  my 
experience  on  several  occasions,  and  I  never  could 


354   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

make  out  a  clear  ease  except  in  one  instance,  which, 
was  done  in  the  following  manner. 

We  will  call  the  undervaluer  Max  Rosenberg, 
a  native  of  Berlin,  Gennany,  but  living  and  doing 

business  in ,  where  he  has  accumulated  over 

a  million  dollars,  or  five  million  francs,  and  all  this 
money  made  by  defrauding  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment. 

I  had  an  important  investigation  to  make  at  the 
office  of  a  manufacturer  of  ladies'  costumes,  who, 
it  seems,  was  in  trouble  at  the  Public  Stores  at  the 
Port  of  New  York,  and,  in  order  to  facilitate  his 
matter,  he  wanted  his  books  examined,  so  that  he 
could  send  affidavits  to  his  lawyers  in  New  York, 
who  had  suggested  in  a  letter  to  him  the  practica- 
bility of  the  examination  of  his  books  at  this  time. 
I  was  detailed  to  make  the  examination,  and  ac- 
cordingly called  upon  the  manufacturer,  who  pro- 
duced his  books,  and,  with  the  assistance  of  his 
bookkeeper,  I  examined  numerous  entries  of  in- 
voices of  goods  manufactured  by  him  and  sold  to 
various  American  firms;  and,  seeing  many  in- 
voices made  to  Max  Rosenberg,  who  has  been  un- 
der suspicion  for  many  years,  but  to  this  time  has 
never  been  caught,  I  therefore  copied  all  the  origi- 
nal numbers  of  the  manufacturer  and  numbers 
given  Max  Rosenberg,  as  also  the  prices.  [It  may 
be  well  to  state  that  each  commissioner  having 
goods  made  to  order  by  various  manufacturers 
always    has    his    own    numbers,    which   are    set 


UNDERVALUATION  355 

aside  on  the  manufacturers'  books  as  a  reference.] 
In  all,  I  took  down  twenty-nine  numbers,  and,  feel- 
ing satisfied  that  I  had  accomplished  something 
which  might  lead  to  the  ultimate  bringing  to  jus- 
tice of  Max  Rosenberg,  I  returned  to  the  office,  at 
36  Avenue  de  I'Opera.  I  then  examined  the  files 
of  the  consulate,  and  brought  out  all  of  the  in- 
voices of  Max  Rosenberg,  representing  shipments 
of  his  firm  for  the  preceding  six  months,  and  ex- 
amined each  item  on  his  consulated  invoices,  and 
the  result  was  that  I  found,  out  of  the  twenty-nine 
numbers,  twenty-four  undervalued  from  ten  to 
thirty-three  per  cent.  I  then  called  upon  Max 
Rosenberg,  and  asked  him  to  show  me  some  of 
the  entries  on  his  books.  He  looked  at  me  for 
a  moment,  and  told  me  that  I  and  the  United 
States  Government  could  go  to  hell,  and  added 
something  more  which  is  not  fit  to  be  in  print.  If 
I  ever  have  the  pleasure  of  meeting  Rosenberg 
in  the  United  States,  I  will  ask  him  if  he  re- 
members the  insult  which  he  handed  out  to  me, 
and  which  I,  as  a  Government  official  in  a  for- 
eign country,  could  not  resent,  and  when  he  goes 
back  to  Europe  I  will  give  him  something  that 
will  remind  him  that  there  is  one  man  living  in 
the  United  States  who  has  upheld  the  Stars  and 
Stripes. 


WHAT  THE  GOVERNMENT  DEMANDS 

The  Government  is  not  insatiable,  or  even  over- 
mercenary,  as  seems  to  be  the  popular  verdict  of 
those  who  prefer  to  patronize  European  markets. 
Its  laws  and  regulations  are  the  most  comprehen- 
sive in  the  world,  and  there  are  none  so  easy  to 
obey,  and,  as  a  natural  sequence,  none  so  easy  to 
break.  To  the  honest  man  the  demands  of  the 
United  States  customs  are  as  straight  as  a  mar- 
line spike.  This  statement  may  be  assailed  by 
some  who  believe  that  free  trade  would  be  the  shin- 
ing glory  of  this  country,  a  contention  that  serves 
the  purpose  about  election  time,  and  no  other. 

The  great  majority  of  the  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  travelers  who  cross  and  recross  the  west- 
ern ocean  each  year  obey  the  laws  of  every  country 
they  enter.  When  they  return  to  this  side  with 
the  goods  they  have  purchased  on  the  other  side 
they  pay  the  taxes  imposed  upon  their  purchases 
with  the  same  spirit  that  they  support  their 
churches,  their  schools  or  their  clubs.  Domestic 
merchants  and  manufacturers,  willi  their  count- 
less army  of  workers,  are  protected  in  this  way, 
and  it  is  these  who  are  most  hurt  when  the  dishon- 

356 


THE  GOVERNMENT  DEMANDS    357 

est  jiian  brings  in  goods  on  which  he  should  pay 
duty,  but  on  which  he  does  not. 

The  Government  is  not  exclusive  in  its  rewards 
for  information  that  may  lead  to  seizure,  of  no 
matter  what  kind.  It  is  true  that  this  country  has 
an  immense  army  of  "intelligence"  agents  here 
and  abroad,  and  it  has  been  stated  that  even  the 
clerks  in  the  large  establishments  of  Paris,  Lon- 
don, Antwerp,  Brussels,  Berlin,  Amsterdam  and 
other  cities  of  Europe  have  been  known  to  sell  valu- 
able goods  to  wealthy  Americans  with  one  bow  and 
inform  the  special  agents  of  the  purchases  with 
the  next  scrape. 

I  am  in  a  position  to  know  that  this  statement  is 
not  true.  Likewise,  it  has  been  repeatedly  said 
that  every  crowded  steamer  during  the  season  has 
its  quota  of  special  agents  as  passengers,  and  that 
the  stewards  of  these  ships  are  a  valuable  aid  in 
the  ascertaining  of  certain  facts  that  are  of  para- 
mount importance  to  the  Government.  This,  too, 
is  a  base  fabrication. 

The  fact  that  any  individual,  foreigner  or  na- 
tive, has  as  much  authority  to  make  a  seizure  of 
smuggled  goods  as  has  a  regularly  employed  offi- 
cial of  the  Government  is  and  always  will  be  a 
keen  incentive  to  the  capture  or  exposure  of  the 
wrongdoing  traveler.  There  is  one  drawback  only 
to  the  aspirations  of  the  private  individual  when 
he  desires  to  make  a  seizure.    It  is  this :  A  Gov- 


358   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

ernment  officer  may  make  a  seizure  whenever  he 
thinks  he  is  justified  in  doing  so. 

If  it  be  subsequently  shown  that  he  was  in  error, 
and  the  goods  in  question  are  released,  the  claun- 
ant  to  the  same  has  no  cause  for  legal  action 
against  the  officer,  because  the  law  protects  him. 
But  a  private  individual,  so-called,  making  the 
seizure  on  information  or  belief,  must  bear  out 
his  case  absolutely,  and  if  unsuccessful  in  proving 
that  the  goods  should  be  confiscated  or  otherwise 
held,  the  claimant  has  good  cause  for  damages 
against  him. 

What  the  Government  demands  is  this :  Every- 
body who  goes  abroad  is  entitled  to  bring  back  to 
these  shores  one  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  per- 
sonal effects,  if  purchased  abroad  not  strictly  for 
the  use  of  the  purchaser,  so  long  as  they  are  not 
for  sale.  That  is  the  limitation  under  the  customs 
laws.  If  one  buys  presents,  whether  of  jewelry, 
clothes,  souvenirs,  or  what  not,  for  anybody  else, 
relative,  friend  or  stranger,  and  brings  them  here 
to  distribute,  they  are  not  dutiable,  irrespective 
of  the  fact  that  the  purchaser  bought  nothing  for 
himself.  Still  another  manner  of  illustrating  the 
law  is  in  this  way:  If  the  traveler  buys  fifty  dol- 
lars' worth  of  goods  for  himself  and  fifty  dollars' 
worth  of  presents,  he  is  not  obliged  to  pay  duty  on 
the  presents.  There  is  not  much  complication 
about  that  law,  though  many  think  there  is  as 


THE  GOVEKNMENT  DEMANDS   359 

much  complication  about  it  as  there  is  injustice, 
when  in  truth  there  is  neither. 

The  operation  of  ascertaining  what  dutiable 
stuff  returning  tourists  have  is  conducted  in  this 
manner:  There  are  twenty-one  special  clerks  un- 
der the  jurisdiction  of  the  deputy  collector  of  the 
Port  of  New  York.  It  is  the  duty  of  a  portion 
of  this  staff  to  meet  at  Quarantine  all  incoming 
vessels  from  foreign  parts.  These  men  leave  the 
Barge  Office  at  the  Battery,  in  the  lower  section 
of  the  metropolis,  and  board  a  revenue  cutter, 
which  is  a  big,  powerful  tug,  which  conducts  them 
to  the  ship  inward  bound. 

One  officer  is  usually  detailed  to  every  thirty 
passengers,  making  on  an  average,  in  season, 
about  thirt}'  officers  to  each  passenger  steamer. 
During  that  season  in  which  traffic  is  exceptionally 
large  and  steamers  arrive  on  time,  it  frequently 
happens  that  there  may  be  four  or  five  steamers 
bound  up  the  bay  at  the  one  time.  In  that  event 
the  clerks  are  divided  among  the  steamers,  the 
ratio  being  one  officer  for  fifty  or  sixty  passengers. 

When  the  officers  board  the  steamer  at  Quaran- 
tine they  take  their  seats  at  the  head  of  each  table 
in  the  main  saloon.  There  are  usually  eight  or 
ten  large  tables.  The  passengers  are  then  re- 
quested to  sit  at  one  side  of  each  table  for  the  pur- 
pose of  making  declarations,  and  after  this  duty 
has  been  perforaied  each  passenger  changes  his 
seat  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  table,  that  he  may 


360   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERN]\IENT 

sign  his  declaration.  Having  done  this,  he  is  pre- 
sented with  a  ticket  on  which  is  printed  a  number 
corresponding  to  the  number  on  his  dechiration. 
He  then  departs  and  the  next  passenger  takes  his 
turn. 

Many  amusing  incidents  take  place  with  the 
making  out  of  these  declarations,  and  often  the 
gentler  sex  is  the  central  figure  in  them.  This 
was  especially  true  of  former  times  when  the  new 
regulations  were  not  in  effect.  A  famous  dress- 
maker, who  was  always  under  suspicion,  was  on 
one  occasion  interrogated  as  follows : 

''Have  you  any  dutiable  merchandise  in  your 
baggage ! ' ' 

"No." 

"Have  you  purchased  any  wearing  apparel 
abroad!" 

"No." 

"Have  you  anything  that  was  purchased  or 
that  was  given  to  you  while  abroad?" 

"No." 

"Do  you  swear  to  the  truthfulness  of  these 
statements  1 ' ' 

"Yes." 

All  this  time  the  dressmaker,  who  swore  to  the 
above  statements  as  being  absokitely  true,  had 
$15,000  worth  of  new  dresses  and  new  ma- 
terials in  her  trunks  that  she  expected  to  get  in 
by  illegal  means.  A  number  of  society  women 
coming  back  from  Eui'ope  with  entire  trousseaus 


THE  GOVERNMENT  DEMANDS   361 

made  for  themselves  or  for  their  daughters  have 
made  declarations  similar  to  the  one  just  cited. 

A  passenger  who  has  a  lot  of  personal  effects 
that  are  old  and  in  use  is  not  obliged  to  pay  duty 
on  the  same,  but  it  has  often  happened  that  the 
passenger  has  stated  that  he  has  a  lot  of  souvenir 
spoons,  worth  perhaps  ten  dollars,  and,  acting  in 
an  honest  manner,  declares  the  purchase  in  the 
regular  way.  When  the  inspector  on  the  pier  is 
handed  the  declaration  that  has  been  made  out 
on  the  ship  by  the  clerks  he  is  absolutely  compelled 
to  go  through  all  the  luggage  of  the  passenger  in 
question  until  he  finds  the  spoons  to  have  them 
duly  appraised. 

This  is  the  basis  for  the  "rigid"  examination 
complained  of  by  passengers  who  are  obliged  to 
find  the  spoons  that  their  value  may  be  assessed. 
The  duty  must  be  collected  on  these  spoons  before 
the  declaration  is  turned  into  the  higher  channels 
and  the  amount  paid  must  be  marked  on  the  dec- 
laration. This  naturally  makes  a  delay,  and  de- 
lays are  thought  to  be  most  annoying — and  doubt- 
less are — to  tourists,  who  are  anxious  to  join  their 
families  and  friends,  then  close  at  hand. 

Yet  if  the  passenger  understood  the  law  as  well 
as  the  officials,  he  would  end  by  appreciating  the 
work  of  inspection,  which  is  never  unduly  rigid, 
unless  necessity  demands.  The  fault  for  ninety 
per  cent,  of  the  delay  and  irritation  on  the  piers 
rests  with  the  passengers  themselves.    They  will 


362   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

not  help  the  officials  as  they  should.  Rather,  they 
do  everything  they  can  do  to  handicap  their  move- 
ments and  duties.  For  the  benefit  of  those  who 
do  not  know  what  a  passenger's  declaration  is,  T 
have  added  to  this  story  the  copy  of  the  Govern- 
ment's declaration: 

BAGGAGE  DECLARATION  AND  ENTRY. 


District  of  New  York,  Port  of  New  York. 

I, ,  a  resident  of  U.  S.,  residing  at  —  Fifth  Ave., 

destiaation  N.  Y.  C,  a  passenger  on  the  steamship  Majestic, 
from  Liverpool,  do  solemnly  and  truly  declare  that,  to  the 
best  of  my  knowledge  and  belief,  I  have  the  following  pieces 
of  baggage,  namely: 

Trunks.      Bags  or  Valises.      Boxes.      Other  packages.      Total, 
27  35  62 

That  such  baggage  is  my  personal  property  (and  that  of 
my  wife,  maid  and  servant,  who  accompany  me) ;  that  all 
of  the  articles  in  my  baggage  or  on  my  person  purchased 
abroad  (and  intended  for  others  for  sale),  and  their  cost  prices 
paid  by  me,  or  by  others  who  have  entrusted  them  to  me,  are 
fully  set  forth  and  described  in  the  annexed  entry;  that,  with 
the  exception  of  said  articles,  the  said  baggage  contains  only 
such  wearing  apparel  and  personal  effects   (as  were  taken  by 

me  and  my  ■  out  of  the  United  States),  and  include  only 

such  articles  as  are  in  the  use  of,  and  necessary  and  appro- 
priate for,  the  immediate  purpose  of  the  journey,  and  present 

comfort  and  convenience  of  myself   (and  my  ),  and  are 

not  articles  intended  for  other  persons  or  for  sale. 

Subscribed   and   declared   before   me   this  —   day   of  , 

1900. 

(Signed) , 

Surveyor's  Staff  Officer. 

(Signed) , 

Passenger. 

inspector's  retttrn  to  collector. 
I  certify  that  I  have  examined  the  above  62  pieces  of  bag- 
gage and  found  nothing  dutiable  except  as  entered  below. 

(Signed) , 

Inspector. 


THE  GOVERNMENT  DEMANDS   3G3 

ENTRY  OF  ARTICLES  REFERRED  TO   ABOVE. 


Description  porpien  "^  „u      2    ^  § 

of  rntf^  Classification.  a-SS      --gS  g 

Articles.  ^°^t-  S    <^      «    fi  3 

o 

$100  allowed.  $2.20 

Dresses— 5  lbs.  silk  and  wool  wg.  app'l 394     44.60     236.40 

Wraps— Fur  130     35  45.50 

Bonnets — 4  doz.  la.  k.  gloves 20    $3  doz.         .12 

Gloves— Jewelry    193         60     115.80 

Underwear — Lace  and  emb'd  art 89  60       53.40 

Jewelry— Photos    7         25         1.75 

Coats— Fans   20         50       10.00 

Trousers— Dec.  china 2         60        1.20 

Waistcoats— Prints  22  25         5.50 

Mnf.  metal 165  45       7^.25 

Mnf.  cotton 2  45  .90 

Mnf.  plaster  22         35        7.70 

Wg.  app'l  taken  from  U.  S 2,000 

Wearing  app'l  for  Mrs. ,  333,890  fcs.     Free  on  oath.     566.60 

Sundry  articles,  £43  14s. 
Embroideries,  bronze,  etc.,  408  fcs. 
Total,  1,000  fcs. 

District  of  New  York,  Port  of  New  York. 

(Signed.)     , 

Appraiser. 
I  do  solemnly  swear  that  the  prices  above  set  forth  show 
the  actual  cost  or  foreign  market  value  of  the  articles  named, 
to  the  best  of  my  knowledge  and  belief.  A  certified  invoice 

cannot  be  produced,  for  the  reason 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  this  27th  day  of  , 

1900. 

(Signed) , 

Surveyor's  Staff  OflScer. 
Duties  paid  me  as  above. 

(Signed.)     , 

Collector's  Clerk. 
.(Signed) . 


ROBBING  THE  MAIL  ON  THE  HIGH  SEAS 

The  peculiar  methods  and  risks  taken  by  men 
occupying  honorable  positions  in  the  employ  of 
steamship  companies  cannot  be  accounted  for.  I 
am  about  to  relate  a  story  regarding  the  robbing 
of  the  mail  on  the  high  seas  by  the  chief  officer 
of  one  of  the  White  Star  Steamship  Company's 
boats.  The  man,  who  had  the  esteem  of  the  com- 
pany, with  the  rank  of  chief  officer,  might  ulti- 
mately have  been  appointed  as  the  captain  of  one 
of  the  steamers  connected  with  this  prominent 
steamship  company.  I  cannot  account  for  this 
man's  misdeed,  because  the  man's  mind  must  cer- 
tainly have  been  affected,  to  lead  him  to  commit 
the  theft  for  which  he  is  now  serving  a  term  of 
prison  in  England. 

It  was  in  1899  when  one  of  our  officers  followed 
a  laundry  wagon  from  the  White  Star  pier,  after 
the  driver  of  this  wagon  had  received  from  the 
ship  the  bags  of  soiled  linen  which  the  laundiy 
was  to  clean,  and  whose  place  of  business  was  in 
Hoboken.  The  officer  in  question  followed  the 
wagon  to  the  lioboken  ferry,  and  then  stopped  the 
horse  and  wagon,  requesting  the  driver  to  return 

864 


ROBBING  THE  MAIL  365 

with  his  wagon  to  the  White  Star  Line  pier.  The 
bags  were  taken  from  the  wagon  and  examined, 
and  in  some  of  these  bags,  concealed  underneath 
the  soiled  linen  (belonging  to  the  ship)  were  found 
hundreds  of  pieces  of  lace.  The  driver  was  al- 
lowed to  go  and  the  laces  were  seized. 

A  few  hours  after  this  event  word  reached  me 
from  Hoboken  that  a  seafaring  man  had  presented 
some  coupons  of  a  certain  railroad  stock  at  the 
pending  house  in  Hoboken  and  wanted  to  sell 
them.  The  banker,  thinking  it  nothing  unusual 
for  a  seafaring  man  to  oifer  for  sale  anything  of 
this  kind,  simply  asked  the  question,  ''Where  do 
you  come  from?"  The  seafaring  man  turned 
around  and  rushed  out  of  the  place,  leaving  the 
coupons  lying  on  the  counter  of  this  banker.  The 
fact  of  this  seafaring  man  running  through  the 
street  aroused  the  suspicion  of  a  policeman,  and 
he  took  up  the  chase,  along  with  others  who  had 
seen  him  run  out  of  this  banking  institution.  He 
was  caught  by  the  policeman  just  across  the  line 
in  Jersey  City  and  was  taken  before  Chief  of 
Police  Murphay,  where  he  was  held  pending  the 
quest  of  the  ownership  of  these  coupons,  which 
were  still  in  the  hands  of  the  banker. 

The  following  morning  a  diamond  dealer,  doing 
business  in  New  York,  called  upon  me  at  the  Cus- 
tom House,  stating  that  his  brother  had  shipped 
from  Amsterdam  a  parcel  of  uncut  diamonds  in 
the  mail,  which  should  have  reached  him  on  the 


366   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

day  preceding  his  visit  to  the  Custom  House.  As 
these  diamonds  were  covered  by  insurance,  yet 
he  did  not  care  to  lose  them,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  the  insurance  company  would  pay  the 
loss,  as  the  stones  in  question — only  three  of  them 
— were  large  ones,  and  they  were  to  be  polished 
for  a  special  order.  ^ 

In  the  meantime  the  owner  of  the  case  of  laces 
which  had  been  stolen  had  made  his  entry  in  the 
Custom  House,  and  was  informed  at  the  Public 
Stores  that  the  case  of  laces  enumerated  on  his 
invoice  could  not  be  found. 

An  investigation  was  then  being  made  by  the 
post-office  inspectors  and  myself  on  the  steamer, 
then  lying  at  her  pier  at  the  foot  of  Christopher 
Street,  Manhattan.  We  searched  the  chief  offi- 
cer's room,  but  could  not  find  a  trace  of  anything 
in  connection  with  the  theft  of  the  laces,  coupons  or 
diamonds. 

I  left  the  White  Star  pier  and  crossed  over  to 
PToboken,  and  then  proceeded  to  Jersey  City  and 
called  at  the  office  of  Chief  Murphay  at  Police 
Headquarters.  I  then  informed  the  chief  of  what 
had  taken  place  in  connection  with  the  theft  of 
these  coupons  (the  owner  of  which  had  not  up  to 
this  time  appeared)  and  requested  him  to  allow 
me  the  privilege  of  having  a  talk  with  his  pris- 
oner. (In  the  meantime  the  officers,  from  the  cap- 
tain down  to  the  lowest  of  the  steamer,  could  not 
account  for  the  disappearance  of  the  chief  officer.) 


ROBBING  THE  MAIL  367 

He  sent  for  him  and  brought  him  into  his  private 
office  and  told  him  who  I  was,  and  we  then  pro- 
ceeded (the  chief  and  myself)  to  put  the  prisoner 
through  a  short  cross-examination.  We  were  to- 
gether about  fifteen  minutes,  and  the  result  of 
that  fifteen  minutes '  talk  with  him  did  not  amount 
to  anj^thing,  and  I  did  not  succeed  in  getting  him 
to  confess  to  the  theft  of  either  the  laces,  coupons 
or  diamonds. 

I  proceeded  to  light  a  cigar,  when  I  noticed  that 
the  prisoner  had  his  pipe  filled  with  tobacco,  which 
he  had  in  his  hand  during  this  interview,  and  after 
lighting  my  cigar  I  held  the  match  over  towards 
him  and  told  him  to  smoke  up.  He  said  he  pre- 
ferred a  dry  smoke.  I  looked  at  him  for  a  moment, 
then  reached  over  and  took  the  pipe  away  from 
him.  Chief  Murphay  looked  at  me  in  amazement 
for  the  moment,  not  knowing  what  I  was  about 
to  do.  The  prisoner  got  up,  and  so  did  I.  Chief 
Murphay  reached  over  and  pulled  him  back  in  his 
chair.  I  then  crossed  the  room  to  the  table  and 
took  a  newspaper  and  opened  it  on  Chief  Mur- 
phay's  desk.  The  pipe  which  I  had  taken  from  the 
prisoner  had  a  very  large  bowl.  I  emptied  the 
contents  of  this  bowl  on  the  newspaper,  and,  to 
the  amazement  of  Chief  Murphay — and  I  must 
confess  I  was  amazed  myself — there  amidst  the 
tobacco  we  found  the  three  diamonds  belonging  to 
the  firm  whose  mail  package  had  not  reached 
them. 


368   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVEENMENT 

As  the  diamonds  were  not  dutiable,  a  case  of 
smuggling  could  not  be  made  against  him,  as  they 
were  unpolished.  Rough  or  uncut  diamonds  come 
under  the  heading  of  non-dutiable  merchandise. 

This  case  was  presented  to  the  District  Attor- 
ney's office  at  New  York,  as  the  crime  was  com- 
mitted at  the  Port  of  New  York;  but  under  the 
treaty  between  England  and  the  United  States,  it 
developed  that  the  crime  had  been  committed  out- 
side of  the  three-mile  limit  of  the  United  States, 
and  under  the  British  flag,  and  on  an  English 
steamer;  so  the  unfortunate  prisoner  was  trans- 
ported in  irons  on  the  same  steamer  on  which  he 
had  been  chief  officer,  going  back  witli  his  former 
fellow-officers  as  a  prisoner  to  bo  tried  for  com- 
mitting a  crime  against  the  British  flag  on  the 
high  seas. 

I  was  present  in  London  at  the  trial,  when  he 
was  convicted  and  sentenced  to  ten  years  at  hard 
labor. 


THE  LEINKRAM  DIAMONDS 


CHAPTER  I 

Michael  Leinkram,  alias  Michael  Hochberger, 
had  the  reputation  of  being  an  extremely  wise 
man.  His  ambition  was  to  grow  rich  on  the  rapid 
transit  order,  and  he  believed  the  quickest  and 
safest  way  to  attain  this  end  was  to  smuggle.  In 
this  respect  his  wisdom  was  bad.  His  brother  has 
for  some  years  been  a  diamond  merchant  of  the 
metropolis,  and  Michael  was  anxious  to*  let  his 
relative  get  wealthy  fast,  too. 

Michael  was  overjoyed  when  he  learned  that 
Prince  Henry  of  Germany  was  preparing  to  come 
to  America  to  participate  in  the  launching  cere- 
monies of  his  Emperor-brother's  yacht,  the  Me- 
teor. Being  a  thoughtful  man,  he  figured  it  out 
that  the  welcome  of  Prince  Henry  when  he  arrived 
in  New  York  would  be  a  spectacular  one,  and,  as 
Michael  was  then  in  Europe  and  desirous  of  en- 
tering the  Empire  City  as  modestly  as  he  could, 
he  conceived  the  idea  that  it  would  be  an  excellent 

369 


370  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

plan  to  travel  in  tlie  same  ship  with  the  Prince  and 
land  without  any  unnecessary  honor. 

His  object  in  coming  home  in  a  thoroughly  dem- 
ocratic way  was  a  purely  business  one.  He  had 
made  a  number  of  "purchases"  on  the  other  side. 
He  wanted  to  bring  them  here,  and  as  they  were 
dutiable  as  an  importation,  and  as  he  had  deter- 
mined not  to  be  annoyed  by  the  necessity  of  pay- 
ing duty,  he  thought  it  pradent  to  come  home  as 
unostentatiously  as  possible.  To  further  his  plan 
he  decided  to  travel  in  the  second  cabin,  a  class 
that  he  imagined  was  not  subjected  to  the  same 
amount  of  scrutiny  that  usually  fell  to  the  lot  of 
those  who  came  in  the  first  saloon  of  the  ordinary 
ocean  steamer. 

Michael  made  all  his  plans  to  his  entire  satisfac- 
tion, and  when  he  purchased  a  second-class  ticket 
on  the  North  German  Lloyd  steamer  Kronprinz 
Wilhelm,  in  which  Henry  was  to  travel  in  an  im- 
perial suite,  he  flattered  himself  that  for  once  in 
his  life  he  had  displayed  wisdom  that  would  result 
in  the  undoing  of  those  who  were  paid  to  see  that 
the  Government  was  not  cheated. 

But  Boileau  says  that  the  wisest  man  is  gener- 
ally he  who  thinks  himself  the  least  so,  and  what 
the  dishonest  shipmate  of  the  honest  Prince  in- 
tended to  do  was  known  on  this  side  almost  as  soon 
as  he  had  laid  his  plans. 

The  Kronprinz  Wilhelm  arrived  in  New  York 
on  Sunday,  February  23,  and  few  ships  ever  re- 


THE  LEINKRAM  DIAMONDS         371 

ceived  a  greater  reception.  Because  cf  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Prince  on  board,  arrangements  were 
made  to  berth  her  at  a  special  wharf,  and  a  new 
pier  at  the  foot  of  West  Thirty-fourth  Street,  Man- 
hattan, was  selected.  Joseph  Daniels,  an  acting 
deputy  collector,  went  down  the  bay  on  the  reve- 
nue cutter  with  several  others  to  take  the  decla- 
rations of  the  passengers. 

Coming  up  the  river,  Daniels  took  the  declara- 
tions of  a  number  of  second-cabin  travelers, 
including  Leinkram.  The  latter  appeared  on 
the  passenger  list  as  "Herr  Leinkram  Otten- 
dorf,"  but  he  afterwards  denied  that  he  had  any 
intention  of  posing  under  an  assumed  name.  The 
entry  on  the  passenger  list  was  a  mistake,  accord- 
ing to  his  way  of  thinking. 

Daniels  asked  Leinkram  the  usual  questions,  to 
which  he  replied  that  he  was  a  native  of  Austria ; 
that  he  was  going  to  No.  —  West  161st  Street; 
that  he  had  one  piece  of  baggage  and  that  he  had 
nothing  dutiable.  He  was  handed  the  declaration 
and  the  examiner  saw  him  swear  to  the  truth  of 
the  statements  therein  contained. 

Leinkram  landed  on  the  pier  the  moment  the 
ship  berthed  and  sought  an  inspector  to  examine 
his  single  piece  of  baggage.  The  inspector  as- 
signed to  him  was  Sam  Ravine,  who  made  an  ex- 
haustive search  of  the  man's  valise,  but  found 
nothing  that  was  dutiable. 

The  acting  deputy  collector  and  I  watched  Ra- 


372    DEFEAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

vine  overhaul  the  higgage,  and  at  its  completion 
I  walked  over  to  Leinkram  and  asked  him  if  he 
had  anything  dutiable.  I  spoke  in  English  and 
he  pretended  not  to  understand  me.  Then  I  asked 
him  the  same  question  in  Gennan  and  he  answered 
me  that  he  had  nothing  dutiable.  I  requested  him 
to  go  aboard  the  shiji  with  me  and  he  consented. 
Inspector  Ravine  had  given  me  the  declaration 
made  by  the  man  and  I  took  this  aboard  the  ship, 
too. 

We  went  to  the  stateroom  recently  occupied  by 
Leinkram,  and  1  searched  his  overcoat,  undercoat 
and  waistcoat,  but  found  nothing.  Near  his  ab- 
domen I  felt  something  bulky  and  asked  him  what 
it  was.  He  made  answer  that  it  was  a  medical 
band.  I  demanded  to  see  it  and  he  protested.  I 
insisted,  with  the  result  that  I  found  a  belt,  which, 
upon  examination,  was  seen  to  be  filled  with  dia- 
monds. The  belt  was  secured  to  his  person  by 
two  strings  long  enough  to  go  around  his  stomach 
double  and  was  tied  on  the  left  side  in  a  bow-knot. 

Before  taking  the  belt  from  his  person  I  again 
asked  him  what  it  was  for,  and  he  said  it  was  a 
flannel  belt  recommended  by  his  physician.  The 
belt  had  five  compartments,  each  carefully  sewed 
by  hand,  and  I  had  to  cut  the  threads  to  get  at  the 
interior.  I  found  five  packages  of  diamonds,  all 
unset  stones,  the  duty  on  which  was  ten  per  cent. 
There  were  fifteen  liundred  diamonds  in  all.  Many 
were  brilliants  or  large  stones,  but  the  majority 


THE  LEINKRAM  DIAMONDS         373 

were  of  an  eighth  or  a  sixth  of  a  carat  andknown  in 
the  trade  as  ''melle."  The  vakie  of  the  gems,  it  was 
subsequently  ascertained,  was  thirty  thousand  dol- 
lars. The  belt  had  been  torn  open  in  the  presence 
of  Leinkram  and  the  deputy  collector,  and  I  said 
to  the  would-be  smuggler : 

''Do  you  own  these  diamonds?" 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders  for  reply.  I  had  no- 
ticed his  brother,  Moses  Leinkram,  on  the  pier, 
and  I  said  to  Leinkram : 

''What's  the  use  of  your  playing  innocent!  Is 
this  your  property,  or  is  it  owned  by  your 
brother?" 

He  hesitated  a  second  or  two  and  then  said  that 
the  goods  belonged  to  his  brother,  the  diamond 
merchant.  I  then  placed  the  man  under  arrest, 
but  before  doing  so  made  a  package  of  the  dia- 
monds. To  avoid  the  big  crowd  that  had  assem- 
bled to  see  the  Prince,  we  took  Leinkram  through 
the  private  entrance  that  had  been  prepared  for 
Prince  Henry  to  board  his  yacht,  the  Hohenzol- 
lern.  It  was  the  most  expeditious  way  to  gain  the 
street,  and  the  fact  was  made  a  strong  point  in  the 
defense  of  the  man  by  his  counsel,  Edward 
Leonard. 

At  the  head  of  each  pier  reserved  for  the  dis- 
embarkation of  passengers  from  foreign  ships  a 
customs  official  is  stationed  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  rubber-stamping  the  paper  label  that  is  placed 
on  luggage  passed  by  inspectors.    When  we  went 


374   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

out  of  the  private  exit  it  was  not  thought  neces- 
sary to  have  the  label  stamped  by  the  "rubber." 

The  defense  set  up  the  claim  that  as  Leinkram 
had  not  landed  in  a  technical  sense,  he  could  not 
have  smuggled;  but  Judge  Thayer,  before  whom 
the  case  was  tried,  decided  that  the  dock  was  the 
shore;  that  when  Inspector  Ravine  put  his  label 
on  the  valise  and  Leinkram  was  free  to  go,  under 
ordinary  conditions,  the  smuggling  was  complete, 
and  that  the  dock  was  just  as  much  i3art  of  the 
State  of  New  York  as  the  central  part  of  the  State 
would  be,  and  that  the  intention  of  the  man  was 
clearly  to  defraud  the  revenue. 

Leinkram  was  locked  up  that  night  in  a  police 
station  and  the  following  morning  was  arraigned 
before  the  United  States  Commissioner.  The  day 
of  the  arrest  I  tried  without  success  to  get  him  to 
acknowledge  that  he  was  familiar  with  the  con- 
tents of  the  belt  he  wore  prior  to  the  moment  when 
I  cut  its  fastenings  on  the  Kronprinz  Wilhelm  and 
exhibited  the  diamonds  to  his  seemingly  aston- 
ished gaze.  He  insisted  that  he  was  bringing  the 
belt  in  trust  for  his  brother  and  knew  nothing 
whatever  about  what  it  contained. 

Had  the  man  steadfastly  adhered  to  this  state- 
ment he  might  have  saved  his  precious  hide  from 
a  criminal  proceeding  and  his  lawyers  from  a  good 
deal  of  unnecessary  work.  But  on  the  Monday 
on  which  he  was  arraigned  before  the  United 
States  Commissioner  the  smuggler  admitted  to 


THE  LEINKRAM  DIAMONDS         375 

me  that  his  previous  statement  was  a  falsehood 
and  that  he  was  aware  from  the  very  outset  what 
the  belt  contained. 

We  were  en  route  from  the  West  Thirty-seventh 
Street  police  station,  where  he  had  spent  the  pre- 
vious night,  to  the  Commissioner's  offices  in  the 
Federal  Building  when  he  admitted  that  he  had 
been  lying.  He  told  me,  in  addition,  that  he  had 
gone  abroad  in  the  steamer  St.  Paul,  and  gave  me 
the  date  of  his  departure  from  this  side.  I  asked 
him  how  long  he  had  been  acting  as  a  carrier  for 
his  brother.  He  evaded  the  question  at  first,  but 
finally  said  that  he  had  been  in  the  country  about 
one  year  and  three  months  only  and  that  this  was 
his  second  smuggling  trip.  He  was  quite  anxious 
to  learn  how  I  had  discovered  that  he  was  bring- 
ing goods  to  this  country  in  violation  of  the  law, 
but  I  did  not  satisfy  his  curiosity. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  his  own  brother  provided 
me  with  the  electric  current  that  was  to  shock  the 
smuggler.  He  did  it  in  this  way :  I  had  had  sev- 
eral experiences,  in  the  discharge  of  my  duty,  with 
Moses  Leinkram  prior  to  the  arrest  of  his  brother 
by  me.  Nearly  a  month  before  the  latter  arrived 
I  was  amazed  one  evening  to  have  Leinkram  call 
upon  me  at  my  residence.  He  said  that  he  desired 
to  give  me  some  information  that  would  be  valu- 
able to  me  and  I  invited  him  in.  The  information 
which  he  vouchsafed  I  took  for  what  it  was  worth, 
which  I  confess  was  not  much.     When  he  was 


376   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

ready  to  depart  he  pulled  a  large  wallet  from  his 
pocket  and  took  from  it  several  new  one-hundred- 
dollar  bills,  sajdng : 

''I  wish  to  make  you  a  little  present." 

I  could  scarcely  contain  myself,  but  realized  that 
if  I  were  to  display  my  disgust  it  might  be  the 
means  of  preventing  me  from  catching  him  red- 
handed  at  some  future  time,  so  I  asked  him  why 
he  wished  to  make  me  a  present.    He  said : 

''You  remember  about  a  year  and  a  half  ago 
you  held  me  up  when  Joseph  Meyer  arrived  from 
Europe  ?  If  you  recall,  you  detained  and  searched 
not  only  Mr.  Meyer  and  myself,  but  Mr.  Jacobson, 
my  brother-in-law,  and  I  tell  you  that  you  made 
us  feel  very  uncomfortable.  About  six  months 
ago  my  wife  arrived  from  Europe,  and  she  was 
also  searched  at  your  request.  All  of  these  things 
are  very  disagreeable  to  a  man  of  my  standing 
and  refinement." 

' '  It  was  very  thoughtful  of  you, ' '  I  made  reply 
as  diplomatically  as  I  could.  "I  would  not  take 
a  dollar  from  you  or  any  other  man." 

He  returned  the  money  to  the  wallet  and  asked 
me  if  he  might  call  again.  As  I  wanted  to  use 
him,  I  replied  in  the  affirmative.  He  returned  to 
my  residence  in  about  ten  days  and  said  that  his 
nephew  was  coming  to  this  country  in  the  Kron- 
prinz  Wilhelm,  and  he  continued : 

"He  is  an  honest,  good  soul,  and  I  would  not 


THE  LEINKRAM  DIAMONDS         377 

for  the  world  have  him  detained  on  the  pier  as  I 
have  been.    Please  be  fair  with  him  for  my  sake." 

I  told  him  I  was  in  no  way  interested  in  the 
movements  of  his  nephew,  as  he  called  him;  that 
I  was  about  to  go  South  for  my  health  and  did  not 
wish  to  be  annoyed  by  business.  It  may  have  been 
simple  imagination  on  my  part,  but  his  face 
seemed  to  brighten  up  when  I  said  I  was  going 
away  for  my  health.  To  satisfy  him  that  I  had 
no  designs  upon  the  welfare  of  his  relative,  I  said 
that  I  would  be  gone  fully  two  months.  Then  he 
went  away,  and  I  heard  him  whistling  merrily  as 
he  passed  down  the  street.  He  was  whistling  a 
different  tune  when  I  saw  him  the  next  time.  This 
was  on  the  Kronprinz  Wilhelm's  pier  the  day  his 
brother  arrived,  but  before  the  ship  berthed. 

''Why,"  said  he  on  the  latter  occasion,  "I 
thought  you  had  gone  South." 

''I  changed  my  mind,"  was  the  reply  that  I 
made. 

The  next  time  that  I  saw  him  was  at  the  head  of 
the  pier  when  I  was  marching  his  so-called  nephew 
off  a  prisoner.    He  blocked  my  way  and  said : 

"Why,  you  would  not  disgrace  our  family  by 
locking  this  man  up  1 ' ' 

I  ordered  him  to  one  side,  but  he  begged  me  to 
permit  him  to  accompany  his  relative  to  the  police 
station.  I  said  to  one  of  the  uniformed  police  at 
the  head  of  the  pier : 


378   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

"If  this  man  attempts  to  follow  me  to  the  sta- 
tion I  want  you  to  lock  him  up." 

"You  just  bet  I  will,"  responded  the  bluecoat. 
"I  do  not  like  his  looks,"  which  was  quite  far- 
seeing  in  the  limb  of  the  law. 

The  legal  talent  defending  Michael  Leinkram 
tried  to  impress  the  jury  that  the  man  was  as  inno- 
cent of  any  intention  of  wrongdoing  as  the  lamb 
within  the  fold,  and,  furthermore,  insisted  that  he 
never  said  that  he  knew  what  was  in  the  red  flan- 
nel belt  on  his  person  before  it  was  opened.  No 
living  man  had  ever  known  his  client  to  tell  a  false- 
hood, the  chief  lawyer  for  the  defense  added,  and 
he  could  not  have  told  an  untruth  on  this  occasion, 
for  he  was  really  and  truly,  and  a  dozen  other 
things,  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  the  much-spoken- 
of  belt  contained  diamc::ds. 

The  court  did  not  believe  that  Mr.  Leinkram  had 
such  a  spotless  soul  as  his  counsel  would  have  the 
jury  believe,  and  the  jury,  too,  formed  its  own 
opinions.  One  of  these  opinions  was  that  Lein- 
kram was  a  dyed-in-the-wool  rascal,  and  he  cer- 
tainly was,  if  two  and  two  make  four.  But  there 
were  some  others,  as  developments  showed. 

Assistant  United  States  District  Attorney  Den- 
by,  who  appeared  for  the  Govermnent,  made 
a  clear  case  against  the  smuggler.  He  was  in- 
dicted on  four  counts,  the  jury  finding  him  guilty 
on  all  four.  AVhile  he  was  languishing  in  Ludlow 
Street  Jail  a  new  and  startling  phase  of  the  case 


THE  LEINKRAM  DIAMONDS         379 

presented  itself.  The  chief  actor  in  this  was  a 
shrewd,  calculating  chap,  as  the  expression  goes, 
and  he  was  the  talk  of  the  town  for  some  days. 
Because  of  what,  in  ordinary  parlance,  might  be 
called  his  infinite  nerve  and  his  adroit  attempt  to 
make  the  Government  hand  over  the  Leinkram 
diamonds  to  him,  he  is  entitled  to  a  distinct 
chapter. 


CHAPTER  II 

William  Goldman  is  an  Antwerp  diamond  mer- 
chant. He  is  likewise  a  bit  of  a  fool  and 
a  still  greater  bit  of  knave.  Stevenson  once  said 
that  he  had  seen  a  great  many  wicked  men  and 
fools ;  that  he  believed  both  were  paid  in  the  end, 
but  the  fools  first.  The  Antwerp  merchant  was 
both  wicked  and  foolish,  a  dangerous  combination 
at  any  time  of  life.  Charcoal  Eph  must  have  had 
somebody  very  much  like  Goldman  in  mind  when, 
in  one  of  his  ruminative  moods,  he  remarked: 
"Dey  am  some  men  in  de  worP  dat  don't  know 
'nuff  fo'  t'  git  out'n  de  rain,  but  got  sense  'nuff 
fo'  t'  swipe  er  umbreller,  Mistah  Jackson."  Hav- 
ing partly  introduced  Mr.  Goldman,  he  may  now 
come  on  the  stage  and  play  his  little  part. 

The  Antwerp  merchant  was  originally  billed  as 
a  star  of  considerable  magnitude  in  the  Leinkram 
drama.  It  was  placed  on  the  boards  of  the  United 
States  District  Court  of  New  York  as  ''The  Great 
Diamond  Robbery.  All  Stars.  No  Lesser  Lights. 
Thrilling  Scenes  and  Situations  and  a  Grand  Cli- 
max." It  looked  better  on  paper  than  the  actors 
in  it  imagined.    As  for  newspaper  notices,  they 

380 


THE  LEINKRAM  DIAMONDS  381 

were  columns  long  and  yards  wide.  Goldman 
did  not  have  a  particularly  definite  idea  of  the  en- 
terprise of  the  average  American  journalist,  but 
they  laid  him  as  bare  as  the  day  he  was  born  be- 
fore they  cast  him  aside  for  something  more 
newsy. 

The  attention  of  the  Government  was  called  to 
Goldman  when,  through  his  attorney,  Edward 
Cahil,  he  appeared  before  the  Collector  of  the  Port 
of  New  York  with  the  novel  claim  that  the  dia- 
monds in  the  possession  of  that  official  and  seized 
from  the  person  of  Leinkram  were  his  personal 
property  and  had  been  stolen  from  him.  His  re- 
quest was  a  remission  of  forfeiture  of  the  dia- 
monds, and  he  wanted  them  in  a  hurry,  that  he 
might  go  back  to  Antwerp  and  attend  to  his  much- 
neglected  business.  He  was  quite  serious  and  cool 
about  his  claim,  and  I  recollect  that  United  States 
District  Attorney  Wellington  whistled  and  winked 
his  eye  significantly  when  told  of  Goldman's  mod- 
est request. 

Naturally,  the  Government  refused  to  give  the 
diamonds  up,  and  demanded  to  know  why  Gold- 
man had  the  audacity  to  suppose  it  would.  The 
Belgian  merchant,  in  the  role  of  the  much-abused 
philanthropist,  then  came  down  to  the  footlights, 
metaphorically  speaking,  and  told  the  subjoined 
sad  tale : 

He  was  an  honest  merchant  in  business  at  No. 
196  Long  Street,  Antwerp.    His  chief  line  was  the 


382   DEFEAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

handling  of  unset  stones,  principally  diamonds. 
There  was  a  man  named  Joseph  Meyer,  a  small 
dealer  and  broker  in  diamonds,  whose  place  of 
business  was  on  Terley  Street,  Antwerp.  The 
diamonds  found  upon  the  person  of  Leinkram 
were  the  same  as  those  he  gave  to  this  man  Meyer 
to  sell  on  commission.  Meyer  did  not  have  any 
great  responsibility  in  his  native  city,  but  Gold- 
man trusted  him  in  this  instance  and  seemingly 
made  a  mistake. 

How  he  came  to  give  the  diamonds  to  Meyer 
was :  The  man  came  to  him  and  said  that  he  had 
a  purchaser  in  Berlin  for  from  one  hundred  thou- 
sand to  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  francs' 
worth  of  diamonds.  He  had  great  faith  in  Meyer 
and  forgot  to  ask  the  name  of  the  intended  buyer. 
It  was  not  odd  that  he  should  do  so.  Good  gra- 
cious !  no.  He  often  gave  brokers  goods  on  memo- 
randum for  sale.  All  he  required  was  a  receipt. 
Security?  The  idea  was  preposterous.  It  was  on 
February  9  that  he  delivered  the  goods  to  Meyer. 
That  was  the  last  time  he  had  seen  the  man. 

Meyer  had  promised  to  return  the  goods  or  their 
value  within  eight  days,  the  honest  merchant  told 
the  officials,  with  tears  in  his  eyes.  He  did  not 
wait  for  the  eight  days  to  expire,  but,  feeling  sat- 
isfied that  Meyer  would  do  the  right  thing,  he  de- 
termined to  avail  himself  of  the  chance  of  redeem- 
ing an  oft-made  promise.  This  was  no  less  than 
to  come  to  America  to  see  his  brother,  who  was 


THE  LEINKRAM  DIAMONDS         383 

in  business  here  and  from  whom  he  had  been  sepa- 
rated some  time. 

He  loved  his  brother  to  distraction,  and  he  just 
could  not  wait  any  longer,  so  packed  up  and  hur- 
ried across  the  wintry  brine.  He  left  his  business 
in  the  care  of  his  wife  and  sailed  from  the  other 
side  on  February  13,  coming  on  the  Cunarder 
Campania.  This  ship  arrived  here  a  few  days 
before  the  one  that  brought  Leinkram  over,  but 
he  did  not  know  this,  and  he  did  not  know  Lein- 
kram. He  learned  of  the  seizure  of  the  diamonds 
from  the  New  York  newspapers  after  his  arrival 
here. 

Goldman  was  most  effusive  in  explanation  as 
to  how  he  came  to  suspect  that  the  diamonds  seized 
from  Leinkram  might  be  the  same  as  he  entrusted 
to  the  care  of  the  wicked  Meyer.  He  just  could 
not  explain  it.  It  must  have  been  telepathy.  That 
was  all  there  was  to  it.  When  he  did  suspect,  he 
immediately  cabled  to  his  wife,  and  received  an 
answer  that  the  whereabouts  of  Meyer  were  un- 
known and  that  in  all  probability  the  goods  found 
on  Leinkram  were  his  property.  He  had  never 
been  deceived  in  a  man  as  he  had  been  in  Meyer. 

But,  then,  he  did  not  know  any  too  much  about 
Meyer,  now  that  he  came  to  think  about  it,  the 
honest  merchant  continued.  It  was  a  mere  coin- 
cidence, his  crossing  the  ocean  about  the  same 
time  that  Leinkram  was  bound  westward.  On  his 
honor  as  a  man,  he  did  not  know  this  rascal  Lein- 


384   DEFKAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

kram.  Honest  men  did  not  want  to  know  such  as 
he.  It  seemed  to  him,  now  that  the  subject  was 
mentioned,  that  he  knew  a  man  named  Moses  Lein- 
kram.  He  was  in  business  on  Maiden  Lane,  or 
some  place  like  that,  but  he  was  not  certain,  be- 
cause he  did  not  know  much  about  New  York. 

It  was  all  news  to  him  that  Leinkram  was  a 
brother  of  Leinkram  of  Maiden  Lane,  and  that 

Leinkram 's  real  name  was .    He  had  been  so 

often  surprised  since  he  came  to  this  country  that 
nothing  fully  amazed  him.     What  did  the  ''M" 

stand  for  in  front  of 's  name?    He  really  did 

not  know.  It  might  represent  Moses,  but  he  could 
not  say,  because  he  did  not  know.  He  wanted  to 
tell  only  of  what  he  absolutely  knew. 

This  and  a  good  deal  more  did  Goldman  say, 
and  it  is  given  in  concise  form  here  that  the  reader 
may  compare  the  statement  with  the  testimony 
dragged  from  him  on  cross-examination  at  the  offi- 
cial hearing  for  the  remission  of  the  forfeiture  of 
the  goods,  held  in  the  Federal  Building  the  follow- 
ing April  and  May. 

It  was  on  February  26,  or  three  days  after  the 
seizure  of  the  diamonds,  that  Goldman  filed  his 
claim  with  the  Collector  and  the  United  States  At- 
torney for  New  York  District.  It  was  clear  that 
he  let  no  grass  grow  between  the  time  of  the  seiz- 
ure and  the  moment  he  filed  his  claim. 

The  Government,  through  the  Collector  and  the 
prosecuting  attorneys,  not  then  being  satisfied  that 


THE  LEINKRAM  DIAMONDS         385 

Goldman  had  not  in  reality  been  made  a  victim  of 
a  conspiracy  on  the  part  of  Meyer,  Leinkram  and 
his  brother,  advised  him,  in  a  purely  friendly 
spirit,  to  hasten  back  to  Antwerp  and  secure  affi- 
davits to  establish  his  claims. 

This  the  man  did,  returning  in  March  with  five 
depositions  and  a  string  of  certificates  of  charac- 
ter from  the  Mayor,  Burgomaster  and  other  digni- 
taries of  Antwerp.  Among  the  affidavits  was  one 
from  Meyer,  in  which  the  arch-conspirator  said 
that  he  had  entrusted  the  diamonds  in  question  to 
Leinkram;  that  the  latter  was  the  Berlin  pur- 
chaser he  had  in  mind  when  he  obtained  the  goods 
from  Goldman ;  and  that  the  stuff  seized  from  the 
body  of  Leinkram  in  New  York  was  the  property 
of  Goldman  and  of  no  other  person.  Asked  how 
he  obtained  this  affidavit  from  Meyer,  if  he  had 
not  seen  him,  Goldman  said  that  his  father-in-law 
went  to  Paris,  where  Meyer  was  in  exile,  and  se- 
cured it. 

For  weeks  before  the  opening  of  the  hearing  the 
lawyers  for  and  against  the  remission  of  forfei- 
ture were  laying  up  expensive  ammunition  to  pro- 
tect the  interests  of  those  they  were  hired  to  serve. 
Certain  information  had  reached  the  ears  of  the 
Government  officials  that  there  was  a  ''cul'd  gent" 
in  the  woodpile,  and  while  Goldman  was  diligently 
scouring  through  Europe,  seeking  certificates  from 
commissioners  and  other  notables  to  show  that  (to 
use  his  own  language)  ''he  lived  in  a  moral  way," 


38G   DEFEAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

the  emissaries  of  Uncle  Sam  were  emulating  the 
example  of  the  ''honest  merchant"  to  show  that 
his  morals  were  attractive  for  their  brevity  rather 
than  for  their  eminence. 

Of  course,  Goldman  did  not  know  of  this,  or  he 
would  not  have  made  such  a  poor  liar  of  himself 
when  he  took  the  stand  to  beg  the  "good,  kind 
Americans"  to  give  him  back  his  precious  gems. 
The  man  had  a  poor  opinion  of  American  business 
methods.  He  must  have  laughed  in  his  sleeve 
every  time  he  thought  how  simple  and  childlike 
he  imagined  the  Government  was. 

It  was  a  rude  awakening  for  him  when  he  dis- 
covered that  he  had  put  his  head  in  a  halter  that 
was  likely  to  choke  him  to  death  any  time  the  ma- 
chinery of  justice  said,  "Shoo,  fly." 

The  petition  of  Goldman  for  the  remission  of 
forfeiture  of  the  diamonds  in  question  was  heard 
before  United  States  Commissioner  Tliomas,  and 
began  April  16,  or  nearly  two  months  following 
the  seizure  of  the  property  from  Leinkram.  It 
continued  for  almost  two  months,  and  every  day 
of  the  hearing  was  more  interesting  than  the  one 
preceding  it.  The  petitioner  was  represented  by 
Edward  Cahil,  while  General  Wellington  and  his 
assistants  in  the  District  Attorney's  office,  Messrs. 
Denby  and  Condin,  defended  the  interests  of  the 
Government. 

Goldman  was  unable  to  talk  English  with  any 
degree  of  accuracy  and  his  testimony  was  taken 


THE  LEINKRAM  DIAMONDS         387 

through  Mr.  Ferdinand,  an  interpreter.  This  gave 
him  an  opportunity  to  dodge  at  critical  moments. 
But  he  managed  to  make  a  tip-top  ass  of  himself 
before  he  realized  that  he  had  done  so. 

He  explained  the  Meyer  transaction  to  his  en- 
tire satisfaction;  said  that  he  knew  the  man  only 
fairly  well,  but  later  on  admitted  that  Meyer  had 
been  two  years  in  his  employ ;  that  he  had  traveled 
for  him  until  he  went  into  business  for  himself. 
He  testijSed  that  he  had  often  given  Meyer  goods 
when  tht  latter  went  to  Paris  and  Berlin  to  sell 
them,  and  that  in  all  instances  except  in  their 
latest  transaction  he  (the  traveling  salesman)  had 
returned  the  money  to  him. 

Goldman  had  a  complete  description  of  the  dia- 
monds he  had  last  given  to  Meyer  and  which  the 
latter  had  failed  to  return.  He  had  seen  the  goods 
seized  from  Leinkram  at  the  Public  Stores,  and, 
although  he  did  not  weigh  them,  because  a  scales 
was  not  handy,  he  knew  from  the  papers  in  his 
possession  and  the  marks  on  the  packages  and 
papers  as  shown  to  him  that  the  goods  were  the 
identical  ones  he  had  given  to  Meyer. 

He  identified  a  paper  shown  him  by  his  counsel 
as  one  which  Meyer  gave  him  at  the  time  that  he 
let  him  have  ihe  diamonds.  The  foreign  value 
of  the  goods  that  he  gave  the  man  was  from  one 
hundred  and  twenty-three  thousand  to  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  thousand  francs,  and  he  did 
not  know  what  Meyer  had  done  with  the  property. 


388   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

There  were  twenty-five  packages  in  all  given  to 
Meyer  by  him,  and  he  found  upon  counting  the 
stones  at  the  Public  Stores  that  they  compared 
with  the  number  which  he  had  written  in  his  mem- 
orandum book  as  given  to  Meyer. 

Some  of  the  packages  had  been  mixed,  he  swore, 
but  the  stones  were  all  there.  They  had  mixed 
18|  carat,  or  fifty-five  stones  known  as  ''melle"  or 
small  stones.  Seventeen  lots  were  as  he  origi- 
nally gave  them,  but  the  other  eight  were  mixed 
up,  somebody  having  mixed  two  lots  into  one. 
Goldman  recognized  the  writing  on  the  majority 
of  the  packages,  as  he  examined  them  at  the  Public 
Stores,  as  his  own,  placed  there  three  months  or 
so  before  he  gave  them  to  Meyer.  The  latter  had 
marked  some  of  the  papers  himself,  probal)ly  be- 
cause they  became  soiled.  He  knew  it  was  Meyer's 
hand-writing,  he  said,  because  he  knew  the  man's 
writing  very  well.  On  another  of  the  papers  he 
had  seen  the  writing  of  a  broker.  This  was  a  pack- 
age containing  19  3-16  brilliants.  The  broker 
had  taken  this  package  to  Prankfort-on-the-Main 
to  sell  to  a  firm  in  Berlin,  but  had  failed  to  dispose 
of  it  and  returned  it. 

There  was  no  question  about  the  stones  being 
the  same  as  he  gave  Meyer.  The  same  black  stones 
were  among  them.  There  were  also  naatz  stones, 
also  yellow,  white  and  steel  gray,  and  there  were 
also  some  very  bad  ones  among  them.  They  were 
all  cut  in  Antwerp  by  the  people  who  had  cut  dia- 


THE  LEINKEAM  DIAMONDS         389 

monds  for  him  for  some  years.  They  were  all  a 
good  cut,  and  not  like  the  Amsterdam  cutting, 
which  he  inferred  was  bad. 

The  ''honest  merchant"  might  have  continued 
in  this  line  until  the  crack  of  doom  had  not  the 
cross-examination  taken  him  aback  somewhat. 
This  modern  form  of  inquisition,  which  has  re- 
sulted in  the  downfall  of  so  many  untruthful  wit- 
nesses, proved  no  exception  in  the  case  of  Gold- 
man. 

From  admitting  that  he  had  only  a  vague  sort 
of  idea  about  Meyer  and  his  habits,  he  confessed, 
under  the  manipulation  of  the  legal  jack-screw, 
that  Meyer  was  his  wife 's  brother.  And  since  the 
counsel  for  the  Government  were  so  insistent,  he 
recollected  that  Meyer  had  a  partner  in  business 
in  Antwerp.  He  would  have  to  have  a  moment's 
thought  to  recall  the  name  of  this  partner. 

Yes,  yes,  it  was  Henry  Grunzweig,  who  lived  in 
Zuremberg,  a  suburb  of  Antwerp.  The  firm  had 
a  place  of  business  in  Meyer's  house  in  Antwerp. 
Now  that  the  counsel  had  asked  him  if  Grunzweig 
was  any  relative  of  his,  he  remembered  that  he 
was.  Like  Meyer,  Grunzweig  was  a  brother-in- 
law.  It  was  strange  that  he  forgot  to  mention  the 
fact  before. 

The  name  of  his  brother  in  the  metropolis  was 
Gustave  Goldman.  He  had  come  over  to  pay  him 
a  little  social  visit.  Wliat's  that?  Oh,  yes,  an- 
other thing  he  forgot.  His  brother  was  in  business 


390   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

on  Maiden  Lane.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  his  brother 
was  his  agent  in  the  diamond  business  here.  But, 
then,  business  had  not  brought  him  over.  His 
brother  had  asked  him  several  times  to  come  over, 
and  he  took  his  advice  and  made  the  trip.  His 
brother  had  been  in  business  as  his  agent  since 
July  of  the  previous  year. 

It  might  be  considered  strange  by  some  that 
Moses  Leinkram  had  his  place  of  business  so  close 
to  the  one  over  which  his  brother  presided,  but  it 
was  a  mere  coincidence.  Goldman  said  this  in  his 
most  captivating  way  on  the  cross-examination. 
He  continued  that  the  financial  resources  of  Meyer 
were  very  small ;  that  he  did  not  own  any  prop- 
erty in  Antwerp,  but  that  he  had  credit  among  the 
diamond  brokers  there. 

Such  a  thing  as  rating  was  unheard  of  in  Ant- 
werp, Goldman  added.  Some  would  trust  Meyer 
for  five  hundred  francs,  others  for  one  thousand 
francs,  and  others  would  not  trust  him  at  all.  The 
witness  had  not  taken  any  steps  in  Antwerp  to 
recover  the  value  of  the  diamonds  in  question  from 
Meyer,  neither  had  he  made  any  effort  to  cause 
the  arrest  or  extradition  of  the  man  for  the  alleged 
theft. 

His  father-in-law,  who  had  managed  to  get 
Meyer  to  make  an  affidavit  admitting  certain 
things,  refused  to  tell  him  where  Meyer  was  stop- 
l^ing  in  Paris  when  he  made  the  sworn  statement. 
It  was  true  that  on  his  direct  examiniiaon  he  had 


THE  LEINKRAM  DIAMONDS         391 

testified  that  he  came  here  to  pay  a  visit  to  his 
brother,  but  the  truth  was  he  came  here  because 
his  brother  had  advised  him  that  a  firm  with 
which  he  was  doing  business  was  a  bit  "shaky," 
and  the  bad  news  brought  him  here.  In  evi- 
dence to  prove  this  wonderful  display  of  hon- 
esty, so  far  as  concerned  Michael  Leinkram,  he 
could  truthfully  swear  on  a  mountain  of  Bibles 
that  he  never  saw  the  man  to  his  knowledge,  knew 
him  not,  and  had  never  heard  of  him  until  he  read 
in  the  daily  press  that  some  diamonds  which  he 
had  tried  to  import  had  been  seized.  Some  new 
facts  were  educed  by  the  cross-examination  of 
Brother  Goldman,  however. 

Gustave  Goldman,  sworn  on  behalf  of  the  claim- 
ant, testified  as  follows: 

Examined  by  Mr.  Ware. 

Q.  Mr.  Goldman,  where  Is  your  place  of  busi- 
ness? 

A.  In  the  city  of  New  York. 

Q.  How  long  have  you  been  in  business  here  in 
New  York? 

A.  Since  the  first  of  July,  last  year. 

Q.  Who  is  your  correspondent  abroad;  from 
whom  do  you  receive  your  merchandise  from 
abroad? 

A.  My  brother,  William  Goldman. 

Q.  Are  you  carrying  on  a  business  for  yourself 
or  for  him? 

A.  For  him. 


392  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

Q.  As  his  agent  and  representative  here? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  And  have  been  since  you  carried  on  that  busi- 
ness? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  During  that  time  have  you  made  importations 
of  merchandise? 

A.  Yes. 

Q.  Of  what  kind? 

A.  Diamonds. 

Q.  And  have  they  been  regularly  entered  at  the 
Custom  House  and  paid  duties? 

A,  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  Who  is  your  Custom  House  broker? 

A.  Isaac  &  Co. 

Q.  Since  you  have  been  in  business  have  you  sold 
any  diamonds  that  came  into  this  country  that 
have  not  passed  through  the  Custom  House  and 
that  have  not  paid  duty? 

A.  No. 

Q.  You  keep  books  in  the  course  of  your  business 
there? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  Are  those  tlie  books  described  by  Mr.  Mindil 
which  you  produced  to-day? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  You  produced  all  the  books  kept  by  you? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  And  you  have  no  secret  or  other  set  of  books? 

A.  No,  sir. 


THE  LEINKRAM  DIAMONDS         393 

Q.  Are  the  entries  in  them  made  in  the  regular 
course  of  business  in  the  regular  order? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  There  are  no  false  entries  made  in  the  books 
or  inaccurate  ones? 

A.  No,  sir. 

Q.  Do  you  know  Mr.  Meyer? 

A.  Yes. 

Q.  Do  you  know  a  man  named  Michael  Lein- 
kram? 

A.  No. 

Q.  When  did  you  first  hear  of  him? 

A.  AVhen  we  read  it  here  in  the  paper. 

Q.  A  paper  in  which  his  name  was  mentioned? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  How  long  ago  was  that? 

A.  Maybe  three  months  ago. 

Q.  AVas  there  ever  any  arrangement  between 
your  brother  and  yourself  or  Meyer  and  your- 
self whereby  Leinkram  or  anybody  else  should 
bring  a  lot  of  diamonds  that  had  been  smuggled 
to  your  place? 

A.  No. 

Q.  Was  there  ever  any  arrangement  or  under- 
standing whereby  you  should  receive  from  any  one 
smuggled  diamonds? 

A.  No. 

William  H.  Theobald,  being  duly  sworn,  on  be- 
half of  the  Government  testified  as  follows : 

Examined  by  Mr.  Condin. 


394   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

Q.  Mr.  Theobald,  what  is  your  occupation! 

A.  Special  employee  of  the  Treasury  Depart- 
ment. 

Q.  What  was  your  employment  on  the  twenty- 
third  day  of  February,  1902? 

A.  Special  employee  of  the  Treasury  Depart- 
ment. 

Q.  Did  you  meet  any  steamer  that  day  coming 
from  abroad? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  What  steamer  was  it? 

A.  Kronprinz  Wilhelm,  which  arrived  from 
Bremen. 

Q.  Where  did  it  dock? 

A.  At  the  foot  of  Thirty-fourth  Street,  North 
River. 

Q.  Were  you  there  in  your  official  capacity  upon 
the  pier? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  State  what,  if  anything,  you  did  upon  that 
day,  or  did  you  upon  that  day  make  a  seizure  ? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  From  whom? 

A.  From  Michael  Leinkram,  alias 

Mr.  Cahil:  I  object.  Michael  Leinkram  is  the 
name  upon  the  record. 

The  Commissioner :  Let  him  answer. 

A.  (continued) alias  Michael  Ilochberger. 

Mr.  Cahil:  I  object  and  move  to  strike  out  the 
last  part  of  the  answer. 


THE  LEINKRAM  DIAMONDS         395 

Motion  denied.    Exception  taken. 

Q.  State  briefly  the  circumstances ;  or,  first,  what 
did  you  seize  from  Michael  Leinkram  on  that  oc- 
casion? 

A.  A  red  flannel  belt  containing  a  lot  of  packages 
in  which  there  were  five  hundred  and  odd  carats  of 
diamonds. 

Q.  Are  they  the  diamonds  that  were  examined 
in  the  Custom  House! 

A.  The  diamonds  I  seized  were  sent  to  the  Pub- 
lic Stores  and  appraised. 

Mr.  Cahil :  I  will  admit  that. 

Q.  State  briefly  the  circumstances  of  the  seizure, 
just  what  you  did. 

A.  After  the  inspector  of  customs  had  examined 
and  passed  the  baggage  of  Michael  Leinkram,  I, 
accompanied  by  the  dejouty  collector  in  charge  at 
the  pier,  asked  the  inspector  if  he  was  through 
with' the  examination.  He  said  he  was.  I  took  the 
declaration 

Q.  Do  you  recall  the  name  of  the  inspector? 

A.  Inspector  Ravine.  I  took  the  declaration  of 
Leinkram  away  from  the  inspector, 

Q.  You  mean  the  baggage  declaration  made  on 
shipboard  ? 

A.  Yes,  sir.  I  told  him  I  would  have  to  use  it, 
and  asked  Leinkram  to  accompany  me  on  board 
the  ship  for  the  purpose  of  searching  his  person. 
Accompanied  by  the  deputy  collector,  I  took  Lein- 
kram on  board  the  ship  and  questioned  him  as  to 


396   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

whether  he  had  any  dutiable  goods  upon  his  per- 
son, and  he  denied  having  anything.  I  questioned 
him  in  both  the  German  and  English  languages, 
which  I  understand  thoroughly.  He  denied  that 
he  had  anything  of  any  value  upon  his  person  or 
in  his  baggage. 

Q.  You  mean  when  you  say  "of  any  value" — 
you  mean  of  any  dutiable  value? 

A.  Yes,  sir.  I  then  asked  him  whether  he  had 
any  diamonds  upon  his  person,  and  he  said  that 
he  had  not.  I  requested  him  to  remove  his  over- 
coat, undercoat  and  vest,  which  I  searched.  I  found 
nothing.  Then  I  asked  him  to  open  his  trousers 
and  pull  up  his  shirt  and  undershirt,  and  found 
the  red  flannel  belt  around  his  waist,  close  to  his 
skin  and  under  his  undershirt. 

Q.  When  you  found  that  belt  did  you  ask  him 
any  questions? 

A.  "V^^ien  I  found  this  belt  around  his  waist  I 
asked  him  what  it  was,  and  he  told  me  that  it  was 
a  rupture  band;  that  he  wore  it  because  he  was 
ruptured.  I  looked  around  on  the  left  side  of  his 
body  and  found  that  the  belt  was  tied  with  a  white 
tape  attached  on  either  end  of  the  belt  and  went 
around  his  body  twice.  I  pulled  the  string,  loos- 
ened it,  and  pulled  the  belt  off  his  body.  I  felt  of 
it  and  found  that  there  was  some  hard  substance 
in  the  center  of  the  belt,  which  lay  upon  his  ab- 
domen, and  asked  him  if  there  was  anything  in 
this  of  any  value,  or  what  was  in  it.    He  said  that 


THE  LEINKRAM  DIAMONDS         397 

it  was  simply  a  belt  that  he  wore  because  he  was 
ruptured.  I  then  asked  him  again,  ''Aren't  there 
some  diamonds  in  this  belt?"  All  this  time  my 
questions  to  him  were  in  the  German  language.  He 
said  he  preferred  to  talk  German;  that  he  could 
understand  the  German  language  better  than  he 
could  English.  He  said  there  was  nothing  in  it 
at  all.  I  took  the  belt  and  cut  it  open  and  pulled 
forth  one  of  the  packages,  which  was  sewed  on  to 
some  cotton  batting  between  the  two  linings  of  the 
flannel  of  the  belt,  and  opened  one  of  the  parcels, 
and  showed  to  the  deputy  collector,  who  was  pres- 
ent all  the  time,  the  diamonds  found  in  this  belt. 

Q.  Just  what  did  you  find  in  quantity? 

A.  Well,  at  that  particular  time  I  only  cut  one 
of  the  parcels,  wherein  there  were  four  parcels  of 
diamonds ;  there  might  have  been  sixty  or  seventy 
carats  of  diamonds. 

Q.  Did  you  subsequently  make  a  more  careful 
examination  of  the  contents  of  the  belt  ? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  What  did  you  find? 

A.  Found  that  it  contained  over  five  hundred 
carats.  The  exact  weight  of  the  diamonds  I  am 
unable  to  state  at  this  time. 

Q.  Do  you  remember  the  number  of  packages 
you  found? 

A.  Twenty-two. 

Q.  Twenty-two  papers,  do  you  mean? 

A.  Twenty-two  paper  parcels. 


398   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

Q.  Contained  in  how  many  packages? 

A-,  In  five  packages. 

Q.  Do  you  know  whether  those  are  the  diamonds 
which  are  the  subject  of  seizure  in  the  suit  entitled 
United  States  vs.  five  packages  containing  twenty- 
two  papers  of  cut  diamonds? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  A\"liatdidyouthendo? 

A.  After  taking  this  belt  away  from  him  he  put 
on  his  clothes ;  we  went  to  the  dock  again — left  the 
ship  and  went  to  the  dock,  where  his  valise  was 
standing,  took  it  up,  and  we  walked  out  to  the  pri- 
vate entrance  to  the  pier.  This  was  done  in  order 
that  I  might  not  create  any  excitement  upon  the 
dock,  because  it  was  on  the  day  of  the  arrival  of 
Prince  Henry.  We  got  to  the  street.  Before  get- 
ting to  the  street  I  asked  the  deputy  collector  to 
try  and  get  a  cab.  He  was  unable  to  get  a  cab 
within  the  lines,  so  we  took  the  man  through,  and 
when  we  got  outside  of  the  pier,  on  the  street,  his 
brother  met  him  and  asked  to  be  permitted  to  ac- 
company him. 

Mr.  Cahil :  I  object  and  ask  that  that  be  stricken 
out. 

Q.  (by  the  Commissioner).  Was  this  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  party  ? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Commissioner:   Objection  overruled. 

Q.  (by  Mr.  Condin).  Leinkram  was  in  your  cus- 
tody all  this  time! 


THE  LEINKRAM  DIAMONDS         399 

A.  Yes,  sir.  When  I  put  liim  in  the  cab  his 
brother  asked  to  be  permitted  to  accompany  him. 

Q.  Had  yon  before  this  time  seen  Moses  Hoch- 
berger? 

A.  Up  to  that  time? 

Q.  I  mean  on  any  previous  occasions? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  Do  you  Imow  whether  he  is  related  to  or  is 
a  friend  of  Leinkram  ? 

A.  Yes. 

Q.  Can  you  state  which! 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  Was  he  related  to  him? 

A.  He  is  a  half-brother  of  Michael  Leinkram. 

Q.  Do  you  know  that  of  your  own  knowledge? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  Continue. 

A.  We  took  him,  the  deputy  collector  and  myself, 
in  the  cab  to  the  police  station — I  think  it  was 
West  Thirty-seventh  Street — where,  through  the 
kindness  of  the  officers,  they  locked  him  up  and 
detained  him  for  me  until  Monday  morning.  On 
Monday  morning  I  called  for  him 

Q.  You  called  for  him  on  Monday  morning  at  the 
police  station? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  (by  Mr.  Caliil).  What  time  was  the  seizure — ■ 
Sunday  morning? 

A.  Sunday  afternoon. 

Q.  About  what  time? 


400   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

A.  Between  one  and  two  o  'clock. 

Q.  (by  Mr.  Condin).  Will  you  go  on? 

A.  I  called  for  liim  to  arraign  him  before  the 
Commissioner  and  questioned  him  as  to  who  was 
the  owner  of  these  goods. 

Mr.  Cahil :  Now,  one  moment.  I  presume  what 
is  to  follow  now  will  be  declarations  made  by  the 
party  who  was  arrested  on  the  day  after  the  seiz- 
ure. The  question,  of  course,  I  haven't  any  doubt 
but  what  all  declarations  made  by  Leinkram  at 
the  time  of  the  seizure,  or  closely  connected  there- 
with at  the  dock  immediately  after,  being  part  of 
the  res  gestce,  must  come  in,  but  I  have  serious 
doubts  as  to  how  far  that  rule  would  apply  in  ex- 
tent of  time  afterwards.  All  the  cases  I  have  ex- 
amined where  declarations  of  a  party  are  ad- 
mitted as  against  the  claimant  are  admitted 
because  so  closely  connected  with  the  time  of  the 
seizure  and  being  a  part  of  the  res  gestce,  but  I 
know  of  no  case  which  permits  it  after  such  a 
length  of  time,  and  I  think  my  objection  should  be 
made  now  and  have  that  passed  upon. 

The  Commissioner:  I  allow  a  great  deal  of  lati- 
tude in  this  proceeding,  and  when  the  question 
comes  up  I  will  pass  upon  it. 

Mr.  Cahil:  I  want  to  get  on  the  record  as  ob- 
jecting upon  the  ground  that  the  declarations  by 
the  smuggler,  in  point  of  time  not  being  connected 
with  the  seizure  so  closely  as  to  make  it  a  part  of 
the  res  gestce,  are  not  admissible. 


THE  LEINKRAM  DIAMONDS         401 

The  Commissioner :  My  only  ruling  now  is  that 
I  will  allow  a  great  deal  of  liberty  in  this  particu- 
lar proceeding,  and  when  the  question  comes  up 
I  will  pass  upon  it. 

Q.  What  did  he  say? 

A.  Told  me  that  they  were  the  property  of  his 
half-brother,  Moses  Leinkram,  whom  we  met  at 
the  pier  the  day  before. 

Q.  Is  that  the  person  who  met  him  outside  the 
pier  when  you  were  putting  him  into  the  cab  to 
take  him  to  the  police  station? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  Did  he  say  anything  else  ? 

A.  I  asked  him,  when  he  went  over  to  bring  these 
diamonds,  on  what  steamer  he  sailed.  He  told  me 
that  he  left  on  the  St.  Paul,  and  gave  me  the  date, 
which  is  in  one  of  my  reports,  and  went  over  there 
for  the  purpose  of  bringing  these  goods  over.  I 
asked  him  how  long  he  had  been  doing  this.  While 
he  seemed  to  avoid  the  question 

Q.  Wliat  did  you  mean  by  that? 

A.  How  long  he  had  been  carrying  on  this  busi- 
ness for  his  half-brother  as  a  carrier,  and  he  stated 
that  he  had  only  been  in  the  country  about  a  year 
and  three  months  and  that  this  was  his  second  trip 
back  and  forth, 

Mr.  Cahil :  This  is  all  under  the  same  objection, 
of  course. 

The  Witness  (continuing) :  Then  he  said  he  pre- 
ferred not  to  say  anything  more  until  he  could  be 


402   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

advised  by  his  friends.  I  then  arraigned  him  be- 
fore the  Commissioner,  who  held  him. 

Q.  Do  you  know  Joseph  Meyer,  of  Antwerp,  Bel- 
gimn? 

A.  Yes,  sir ;  very  well,  indeed. 

Q.  Do  you  know  whether  he,  at  the  time  of  the 
seizure  in  this  case,  was  engaged  in  business  with 
anybody  in  Antwerp? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  Do  you  remember  the  name  of  that  person? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  What  was  it  I 

A.  Goldman,  of  the  firm  of  Goldman  &  Meyer. 

Q.  What  was  their  business  1 

A.  Dealers  in  diamonds  and  exporters  to 
America. 

Q.  Do  you  know  of  your  knowledge  whether  the 
firm  of  Goldman  &  Meyer,  of  Antwerp,  Belgium, 
have  any  American  representative? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  In  this  city? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  Do  you  know  who  that  representative  is  ? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  Wlioishe? 

A.  Moses  Leinkram. 

Q.  Do  you  know  whether  Moses  liochberger  is 
related  to  either  member  of  the  firm  of  Goldman  & 
Meyer? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 


THE  LEINKKAM  DIAMONDS         403 

Q.  To  which  member  of  that  firm  is  he  related,  if 
at  all? 

A.  To  Meyer. 

Q.  What  relation  is  he  to  Meyer? 

A.  A  brother-in-law. 

Cross-examination  of  Mr.  Cahil. 

Q.  This  conversation  you  had  with  Leinkram  on 
Monday  following  the  seizure  was  held  where — at 
the  jail? 

A.  It  was  held  on  my  way  down  from  the  police 
station  to  this  building. 

Q.  Anybody  with  you? 

A.  No,  sir. 

Q.  In  German! 

A.  Yes,  and  partly  in  English. 

Q.  (by  Mr.  Denby).  You  speak  German? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Condin :  Mr.  Commissioner,  I  would  like  to 
ask  Mr.  Cahil  to  stipulate,  if  he  will,  and  if  not,  I 
will  have  to  furnish  proof  subsequently,  of  the  in- 
dictment, trial  and  conviction  of  Michael  Lein- 
kram of  smuggling  the  diamonds  in  suit  which 
were  identified  in  this  proceeding  by  the  claimant, 
Goldman. 

Mr.  Cahil:  It  is  so  stipulated. 

Mr,  Condin:  There  is  something  that  had  es- 
caped me  in  the  examination  and  I  will  ask  it  on 
re-direct. 

Ee-direct  examination  by  Mr.  Condin. 

Q.  Mr.  Theobald,  referring  again  to  Moses  Lein- 


404    J3EFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

kram,  whom  yon  have  testified  having  met  at  the 
Kronprinz  "Wilhelm  on  the  arrival  of  Leinkram, 
and  who  you  have  also  testified  was  the  Ameri- 
can representative  of  Goldman  &  Meyer,  and 
brother-in-law  of  Meyer,  did  you,  after  the  arrest 
of  Leinkram,  or  after  the  seizure  from  Leinkram 
by  you  of  these  diamonds,  ever  see  Moses  Lein- 
kram ? 

A.  No,  sir. 

Q.  (by  Mr.  Denby).  Did  you  ever  have  a  talk 
with  his  half-brother  at  any  time  before  1 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  About  these  diamonds? 

A.  No. 

Q.  Before  the  arrest? 

A.  Not  about  the  diamonds. 

Q.  (by  Mr.  Condin).  Where  was  that  conversa- 
tion? 

A.  At  my  residence. 

Q.  State  briefly  what  it  was. 

Objected  to.    Objection  sustained. 

Q.  (by  Mr.  Denby).  Did  this  conversation  with 
his  half-brother  have  anything  to  do  with  the  ar- 
rival here  of  Leinkram  ? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Objected  to  hj  Mr.  Cahil.  Objection  overruled. 
Exception. 

Q.  (by  Mr.  Condin).  What  was  that  conversa- 
tion? 


THE  LEINKRAM  DIAMONDS         405 

A.  On  the  27tli  of  January,  1902,  Moses  Lein- 
kram  called  at  my  house. 

Q.  Where  did  you  live  then! 

A.  221  West  128th  Street. 

Q.  This  was  before  the  Kronprinz  arrived  and 
before  Leinkram  was  arrested? 

A.  Yes,  sir.    Can  I  tell  this  story  as  it  occurred? 

Q.  State  the  facts  of  the  conversation. 

A.  He  came  to  my  residence  to  give  me  some  in- 
formation, which  I  took  for  what  it  was  worth, 
and  when  he  had  finished  he  opened  a  large  wallet 
which  he  took  from  his  pocket 

Q.  Was  there  any  one  present? 

A.  No,  sir.  and  pulled  out  two  crisp  one- 
hundred-dollar  bills  and  asked  me  if  I  would  not 
take  a  little  present  from  him.  He  said:  ''You 
remember  about  a  year  and  a  half  ago  you  held 
me  up  when  Mr.  Meyer  arrived  from  Europe,  and 
detained  me  and  searched  me  and  Mr.  Meyer  and 
my  brother-in-law,  Mr.  Jacobson,  and  you  made 
us  feel  very  uncomfortable ;  and  about  six  months 
ago,  when  my  wife  arrived  from  Europe,  she  was 
also  searched  at  your  request,  and  all  these  things 
are  ver^^  disagreeable."  I  refused  to  take  any- 
thing from  him,  but  I  could  read  between  the 
lines 

Q.  Never  mind  that. 

A.  I  refused  to  take  the  money. 

Q.  What  did  you  say  to  him? 

A.  I  told  him  I  did  not  see  why  I  should  take 


406   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

anything  from  liiin;  lie  was  not  under  any  obliga- 
tions to  me  and  I  did  not  projjose  to  place  myself 
under  any  obligations  to  him;  that  I  was  a  Gov- 
ernment officer  and  was  willing  and  always  did 
perform  my  duty. 

Q.  What  did  he  say? 

A.  He  put  the  money  back  in  his  pocket  and 
asked  me  if  he  could  come  and  see  me  again. 

Q.  What  did  you  say? 

A.  I  told  him  that  he  could. 

Q.  Did  he  come  ? 

A.  He  came  about  ten  days  before  the  arrival  of 
the  Kronprinz. 

Q.  Where  did  you  see  him  then? 

A.  At  my  residence. 

Q.  Anybody  present? 

A.  Nobody  but  he  and  myself.  He  told  me  then 
that  his  nephew  was  coming 

Mr.  Cahil:  It  is  all  under  objection,  both  con- 
versations. 

Q.  Did  you  ask  him  his  name? 

A.  I  asked  him  his  nephew's  name,  and  he  told 
me  his  name  was  Leinkram  and  that  he  was  com- 
ing on  the  Kronprinz.  I  told  him  I  did  not  see 
why  he  should  tell  me.  I  told  him  I  was  not  inter- 
ested in  anything;  that  I  was  going  away  to  the 
South,  and  that  I  would  be  gone -about  two  months. 
However,  when  he  left,  from  then  on  I  covered 
every  steamer  that  arrived  in  this  port  from  Ant- 
werp, Rotterdam  and  Hamburg  and  the  North 


THE  LEINKRAM  DIAMONDS         407 

German  Lloyd  steamers  to  be  sure  that  if  a  man 
by  the  name  of  Leinkram  should  come  on  any 
other  steamer  than  the  Kronprinz  I  would  be  able 
to  find  him.  On  the  arrival  of  the  Kronprinz,  be- 
fore the  steamer  was  tied  fast,  I  succeeded  in  get- 
ting a  passenger  list,  and  found  that  Michael  Lein- 
kr^^m,  alias  Hochberger,  was  a  j^assenger  in  the 
second  cabin. 

Q.  Did  you  ever  see  Moses  Leinkram  after  that? 

A.  No,  sir ;  not  until  the  day  of  the  seizure. 

Q.  Did  Leinkram,  at  the  second  interview  at 
your  house,  give  any  reason  for  telling  you  that 
his  nephew,  Michael  Leinkram,  was  to  arrive  on 
the  Kronprinz  Wilhelm? 

A.  It  was  all  done  so  quickly  that  he  did  not  have 
the  time  to  give  a  reason. 

Q.  Did  he  or  not? 

A.  He  gave  no  reason,  except  that  I  asked  him 
why  he  came,  and  he  said  that  his  nephew  was 
coming  from  Europe. 

Q.  Did  he  answer  that  question  when  you  asked 
him  why  he  came  ! 

A.  No,  he  did  not  answer  that  question. 

Re-cross-examination  by  Mr.  Cahil. 

Q.  No  one  was  present  at  the  time  when  he  of- 
fered you  these  two  one-hundred-dollar  bills  ? 

A.  No,  sir. 

Q.  What  did  you  say  to  him  when  he  offered 
them  to  you  ? 

A.  I  refused  to  take  his  money. 


408    DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

Q.  Wliy  didn't  you  arrest  him  for  attempting  to 
bribe  an  officer  of  the  United  States  I 

A.  Because  his  word  would  have  been  just  as 
good  as  mine  in  a  court  of  justice. 

Q.  (by  Mr.  Condin).  Did  you  have  power  to  ar- 
rest under  such  circumstances? 

A.  No,  I  don't  think  I  did. 

Q.  You  have  power  to  make  seizures  and  arrests 
in  those  cases  1 

A.  Yes ;  I  have  not  the  power  to  make  the  arrest. 

It  is  useless  to  bring  out  all  of  the  long  testi- 
mony i3resented  by  the  Leinkram  crowd.    The  case 

was  eventually  called  before  the  Hon. , 

judge  of  the  United  States  Circuit  Court,  South- 
ern District  of  New  York,  as  follows : 

United  States  Circuit  Court, 
Southern  District  of  New  York. 


The  United  States 

vs. 

Michael  Leinkram, 

Alias  Michael  Hochberger. 

Before  judge  and 
a  jury. 

CHARGE  OP  THE  COURT. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Jury:  There  are  four  counts 
in  this  indictment,  and  necessarily  in  setting  it 
forth  there  is  a  good  deal  of  verbiage  which  is  of 


THE  LEINKRAM  DIAMONDS         409 

very  little  use  to  you  and  me  in  determining  the 
case.  The  first  count  charges,  in  short,  that  the 
defendant  smuggled  these  diamonds  into  the 
United  States.  The  second  count  charges  that 
after  bringing  them  into  the  United  States,  and 
after  they  reached  such  a  stage,  such  a  point, 
where  they  could  be  said  to  have  been  imported  or 
brought  in,  he  concealed  them,  and  that  such  con- 
cealment was  contrary  to  the  statute,  which  pro- 
vides that  ''if  any  person  shall  fraudulently  or 
knowingly  import,  or  assist  in  so  doing,  any  mer- 
chandise contrary  to  law,  or  shall  receive,  conceal, 
buy,  sell,  or  in  any  manner  facilitate  the  transpor- 
tation, concealment  or  sale  of  such  merchandise 
after  such  importation,  knowing  the  same  to  have 
been  imported  contrary  to  law,  the  offender  shall 
be  fined,"  etc.  The  charge  is  that,  knowing  that 
these  diamonds  had  been  brought  in  contrary  to 
law,  he  was  concealing  them.  The  third  count 
charges  that  he  brought  into  the  United  States 
contrary  to  law  these  diamonds,  and  that  he  was 
guilty  of  certain  omission,  whereby  the  United 
States  was  deprived  of  its  duty,  and  that  the  omis- 
sion consisted  of  his  failure  to  give  any  statement 
of  his  diamonds  in  this  declaration  which  has  been 
laid  before  you.  Now,  that  count,  you  will  see, 
specially  chai'ges  and  lays  to  him  fault — in  im- 
porting of  diamonds  or  bringing  them  in  and  at- 
tempting to  deprive  and  depriving  the  United 
States  of  the  duty  by  failing  to  give  the  infonna- 


410   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

tion  which  he  was  required  to  give  by  law.  The 
fourth  count  charges  the  same  thing,  in  a  some- 
what different  manner,  charging  it  directly  under 
one  law  instead  of  the  other.  Now,  having  gotten 
through  with  these,  the  real  one  vital  question 
here  is  whether  he  intended  to  smuggle  these  dia- 
monds into  the  United  States  and  did  smuggle 
them  into  the  United  States. 

Now,  we  have  the  evidence,  and  you  have  to  in- 
fer an  intention  here  from  his  acts.  You  have  the 
facts,  if  you  believe  the  evidence  of  the  officer 
taking  the  declaration,  that  he  was  asked,  with 
reference  to  these  things,  as  to  whether  he  was 
bringing  in  anj^  property.  You  have  the  declara- 
tion before  you ;  picture  to  yourself  the  scene.  You 
have  the  document  and  you  have  their  statements, 
from  which  3^ou  may  determine  what  this  defend- 
ant meant — whether  he  intended  to  do  it,  after  an- 
swering such  interrogatories  as  may  have  been 
put  to  him  by  the  officer  at  that  time. 

Now,  upon  leaving  the  ship  he  went  on  the  dock, 
and  after  he  was  on  the  dock  he  was  taken  in 
charge  by  the  inspector  and  his  baggage  was  ex- 
amined. The  only  piece  of  baggage  which  he  had 
was  his  valise;  and  he  was  asked,  so  the  inspector 
says,  whether  he  had  anything  tliat  was  dutiable, 
and  if  he  did  answer  that  he  did  not  have  anything 
that  was  dutiable,  as  the  inspector  says  he  did,  and 
he  was  not  telling  the  truth,  and  you  think  he  was 
not  telling  the  truth,  and  if  he  did  not,  how  does 


THE  LEINKEAM  DIAMONDS         411 

that  bear  upon  the  question  whether  he  was  at  that 
time  smuggling  into  the  United  States,  with  the 
intention  to  do  so,  this  property"? 

Having  been  taken  back  to  the  ship  again,  you 
will  remember  what  happened  in  the  presence  of 
Mr.  Theobald,  as  he  states  it,  and  which  is  not 
denied  here — what  does  that  all  indicate  as  to  the 
honesty  of  this  defendant?  Does  it  mean  that  he 
was  bringing  in  here  something  that  was  dutiable, 
that  he  was  acting  honestly  with  reference  to  it, 
or  that  he  was  not,  and  was  smuggling  these  dia- 
monds in  I 

And  the  last  question  is  the  more  technical  ques- 
tion. If  you  find  that  he  was  attempting  to  smug- 
gle them  in,  the  question  is  whether  he  reached 
such  a  point  in  the  matter  that  the  diamonds  could 
have  been  said  to  have  been  imported  or  brought 
into  the  United  States.  Now,  here  is,  you  will  see, 
where  the  real  defense  in  this  case  seems  to  be. 

Now,  they  were  not  on  the  manifest  of  the  ship ; 
there  was  no  invoice,  or  consular  notice,  of  these 
diamonds;  they  were  not  declared;  there  was  no 
statement  made  anywhere.  All  the  provisions  of 
the  law  which  governs  the  importation  of  property 
either  were  not  availed  of  or  it  is  claimed  that 
they  were  avoided.  It  is  urged  on  the  part  of  the 
defendant  that  he  had  not  yet  passed  off  the  dock, 
and  that  perhaps  he  might  have  yet  entered  these 
or  declared  these  diamonds,  or  told  the  Govern- 
ment that  he  had  the  diamonds.    Now,  if  every- 


412   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

thing  had  been  done  that  the  law  required  to  be 
done,  and  the  duty  of  asking  whether  he  had  prop- 
erty and  whether  he  intended  to  make  it  known 
and  pay  duty  upon  it,  the  only  thing  left  was,  when 
he  went  out,  the  duty  of  somebody  to  look  at  that 
label,  and  if  it  was  there  in  proper  foiTQ  to  check 
and  let  him  pass  out.  That  man  does  not  seem  to 
have  any  power  of  examination ;  and  I  am  inclined 
to  charge  you,  as  a  matter  of  law,  if  you  believe 
that  all  the  examinations  for  which  the  law  pro- 
vided had  been  made,  and  he  had  knowingly  failed 
to  declare  that  he  had  these  diamonds,  with  the  in- 
tention of  unlawfully  bringing  them  into  the 
United  States,  that  he  should  be  regarded  as  guilty 
of  this  offense;  that  the  point  had  been  reached, 
all  these  usual  means  or  opportunities  which  the 
law  provides  had  been  exhausted,  it  seems  to  me 
that  you  should  so  find;  if  you  should  find  that  up 
to  that  time  he  had  smuggled  them  into  the  United 
States,  then  it  seems  to  me  that  you  should  find 
him  guilty.  And  that  it  was  not  necessary  to  wait 
until  he  should  pass  the  officer  who  stood  out  by 
the  gate  to  determine  whether  he  would  change 
his  mind  and  pay  the  duty  before  passing  out. 

You  understand,  gentlemen,  of  course,  that  the 
defendant  is  presumed  to  be  innocent  until  he  is 
proven  guilty,  and  that  the  Government  must  con- 
vince you  beyond  a  reasonable  doubt  that  he  is 
guilty  on  these  several  counts.  You  will  recollect 
also  the  rule  that  a  reasonable  doubt  is  the  doubt 


THE  LEINKRAM  DIAMONDS         413 

that  appeals  to  a  man  of  common  sense,  and  such 
a  doubt  that  would  influence  such  a  man  in  the 
determination  of  an  important  matter. 

Mr.  Cahil :  We  except  to  the  latter  part  of  Your 
Honor's  charge  to  the  jury. 

The  Court:  To  be  a  little  more  distinct  about 
this  matter,  I  charge  the  jury  that  if  at  the  time 
the  inspector,  Herbert,  got  through  with  the  de- 
fendant and  put  that  label  on  the  valise,  if  Her- 
bert had  discharged  his  duty,  and  if  at  the  time  the 
defendant  intended  to  smuggle  these  goods  into 
the  United  States,  and  the  defendant  at  that 
time  did  not  intend  to  pay  the  duty  on 
these  goods  up  to  that  time,  he  smuggled 
them  into  the  United  States  within  the  meaning  of 
the  law,  because  it  appears  that  there  was  no  other 
machinery  of  the  law  to  be  i3ut  in  force  relating 
to  the  collection  of  duty  upon  these  goods. 

Mr.  Cahil :  It  is  to  that  portion  of  Your  Honor's 
charge  that  we  except.  I  ask  Your  Honor  to  charge 
that  the  offense  of  smuggling  is  not  committed 
unless  some  goods,  wares  and  merchandise  are 
actually  brought  ashore  or  carried  to  shore  con- 
trary to  law. 

The  Court:  I  also  charge:  and  the  dock  is  the 
shore. 

Mr.  Cahil :  Our  contention  is  that  it  is  not  until 
after  he  has  gone  beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
customs  officials. 

The  Court:   When  he  got  so  far  along  in  this 


414  DEFEAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

matter  that  the  customs  officers  had  exhausted 
their  duties  with  reference  to  it,  then,  in  my  opin- 
ion, he  is  beyond  the  line  and  the  smuggling  is 
complete,  and  it  is  not  necessary  that  he  should 
go  out  into  the  street,  because  the  dock  is  the  ex- 
tension of  the  street  and  just  as  much  a  part  of  the 
State  of  New  York  as  the  central  part  of  the  State 
would  be,  and  is  subject  to  its  jurisdiction  just  as 
much,  and  is  just  as  far  away  from  the  admiralty 
jurisdiction. 

Mr.  Cahil:  I  ask  Your  Honor  to  charge  that 
mere  possession  of  the  goods  is  not  sufficient  to 
authorize  a  conviction  under  this  section,  and  that 
it  is  necessary  for  the  Government  to  show  that 
the  goods  were  imported  contrary  to  law  and  that 
the  defendant  had  knowledge  of  the  fact. 

The  Court :  I  so  charge. 

Mr.  Cahil:  I  would  ask  Your  Honor  to  charge 
that  it  is  the  intent  to  defraud  the  revenue,  and 
not  the  mere  secret  and  clandestine  manner  of  im- 
porting goods,  which  constitutes  the  gist  of  the 
offense. 

The  Court:  I  will  charge  that  the  intention 
alone  would  not  be  enough,  nor  the  bringing  them 
in  would  not  be  enough,  but  the  two  together  form 
the  crime. 

Mr.  Denby:  I  ask  Your  Honor  to  charge  the 
jury  that  they  may  take  into  consideration  the  way 
that  the  goods  were  brought  in  in  determining  the 
intent. 


THE  LEINKRAM  DIAMONDS         415 

The  Court:  The  intent  must  be  inferred  from 
the  acts  and  statements  of  the  defendant. 

Mr.  Caliil :  I  ask  Your  Honor  to  cliarge  that  the 
failure  of  the  defendant  to  take  the  witness  stand 
in  his  own  behalf  raises  no  presumption  against 
him  in  law. 

The  Court :  I  so  charge. 

The  jury  thereupon  retired,  and  at  1.10  p.m. 
returned  and,  through  the  foreman,  announced 
that  they  found  the  defendant  guilty  as  charged 
in  the  indictment. 

Mr.  Caliil:  I  formally  move  to  set  the  verdict 
aside  on  the  ground  that  it  is  against  the  law  and 
against  the  weight  of  evidence. 

The  Court :  Motion  denied. 

Mr.  Cahil  excepts. 

On  May  22,  1902,  the  prisoner  was  sentenced  as 
follows : 

Sentenced  to  two  years  in  prison  and  five  thou- 
sand dollars  fine;  to  stand  committed  until  paid. 
Sentence  to  be  executed  at  New  York  State  Re- 
formatory at  Elmira. 


SMUGGLING  OF  DRUGS 

There  is  a  class  of  druggists  in  the  metropolis 
who  deal  in  prohibited  goods.  Some  are  "pro- 
tected" by  patent  rights,  and  others  are  illegal  to 
sell  or  even  bring  into  the  country.  Early  in  1900 
the  Government  received  the  intelligence  that 
great  numbers  of  these  jirohibited  articles  were 
finding  their  way  into  the  hands  of  women  of  ques- 
tionable repute,  and  the  indication  was  that  a  sin- 
gle agency  was  engaged  in  the  work  of  distrib- 
uting them  through  the  proper,  or  rather  im- 
proper channels. 

Several  presumably  respectable  drug  firms  were 
suspected  for  some  little  time,  but  their  innocence 
was  established  beyond  peradventure.  Then  the 
name  of  Hugo  Rosenthal  was  placed  on  the  list  of 
suspects.  Rosenthal  had  a  prosperous  pharmacy 
at  the  corner  of  Fifth  Street  and  Second  Avenue, 
Manhattan,  and  when  he  originally  came  under 
surveillance  was  absent  in  Europe. 

We  waited  more  than  a  montli  for  his  return 
from  foreign  j^arts.  When  I  found  his  name  on 
the  passenger  list  of  the  steamer  Deutschland  on 
arrival  in  Hoboken,  August  6,  1900,  I  had  no  diffi- 

416 


SMUGGLING  OF  DRUGS  417 

culty  in  locating  him  on  the  pier.  I  was  quite  anx- 
ious to  learn  how  he  brought  the  illegal  goods  in, 
being  satisfied  that  it  was  in  no  regular  way.  I 
accosted  him  and  said  that  there  was  a  strong  be- 
lief that  he  was  engaged  in  the  unlawful  business 
of  importing  prohibited  stuff.  He  said  the  state- 
ment was  absolutely  untrue,  and  gave  it  as  his 
opinion  that  somebody  was  joking  with  me  at  his 
expense. 

I  directed  him  to  point  out  his  luggage,  which 
he  did,  vouchsafing  at  the  same  time  the  informa- 
tion that  it  had  been  duly  examined  and  passed. 
Under  the  system  of  examination,  the  inspector 
employed  for  that  purpose  is  given  the  passen- 
ger's declaration  only  when  the  tourist  presents 
a  numbered  card.  The  latter  is  retained  at  the 
official  desk  on  the  pier,  and  the  declaration  is  re- 
turned to  this  desk  by  the  inspector  at  the  conclu- 
sion of  his  examination.  I  left  Rosenthal  and 
went  to  the  desk  at  the  head  of  the  pier  and  asked 
to  see  the  sworn  declaration  of  the  man.  It  could 
not  be  found.  This  was  most  mysterious.  Then 
I  asked  for  the  ticket  corresponding  to  the  number 
of  the  missing  declaration.    This,  too,  was  missing. 

By  a  mere  accident  I  tumbled  over  an  inspector 
who  said  that  he  knew  the  inspector  to  whom  the 
declaration  of  Rosenthal  had  been  entrusted.  The 
chief  of  staff  speedily  found  him,  and  the  man 
stated  that  he  had  made  a  most  thorough  search 
of  the  chemist's  luggage,  but  was  unable  to  find 


418   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVEENMENT 

anything  dutiable.  He  growled  like  an  old  sea 
dog  when  I  told  him  that  he  would  have  to  examine 
the  stuff  again,  this  time  in  my  presence,  and  with 
the  aid  of  an  inspector  whom  I  would  pick. 

"AVliat!"  he  exclaimed.  "Do  you  doubt  my 
honesty?" 

"None  of  your  nonsense,"  I  said  to  him.  "We 
are  here  to  get  for  the  Government  everything 
that  it  is  entitled  to." 

When  we  reached  the  spot  where  Rosenthal's 
baggage  was  located  we  found  that  his  mother  had 
arrived  to  greet  him  and  that  the  two  were  en- 
gaged in  earnest  conversation.  Mrs.  Rosenthal 
hinted  that  if  an  examination  were  omitted  it 
might  be  profitable  to  the  servants  of  the  Govern- 
ment. I  found  the  trunks  of  the  man  loaded  down 
with  all  sorts  of  illegal  stuff,  and,  in  addition,  a 
quantity  of  phenacetine. 

An  overhauling  at  the  Public  Stores  subsequent- 
ly showed  that  there  were  one  hundred  pounds  of 
this  phenacetine  in  one  trunk  alone.  This  drug, 
which  is  used  chiefly  as  an  antipyretic,  is  most 
valuable,  and  its  importation  into  the  United 
States  is  more  or  less  controlled  by  one  firm.  This 
establishment  had  for  several  years  tried  to  learn 
how  a  score  or  more  of  houses  in  New  York,  Chi- 
cago, Boston  and  San  Francisco  had  secured  the 
stuff  without  its  agency,  but  the  detectives  had 
turned  in  a  report  that  proved  nothing.  Stowed 
in  another  trunk  of  Rosenthal's  were  discovered 


SMUGGLING  OF  DRUGS  '  419 

250  boxes  of  unlawful  articles.  "VVlien  the  con- 
tents were  shown  to  Rosenthal,  he  pressed  his  lips 
tightly  together,  flared  up  to  a  point  of  violence, 
and  finally  remarked: 

"There  they  are.  You  may  do  as  you  please 
about  them." 

The  inspector  who  claimed  to  have  originally 
examined  the  smuggler's  baggage  insisted  that 
there  was  no  collusion.  He  made  an  affidavit  that 
he  had  looked  over  the  insides  of  the  trunks  in  a 
consistently  honest  way;  that  he  had  never  met 
the  chemist  before,  and  that  he  did  not  know  there 
was  any  irregularity  until  the  second  examination 
took  place. 

There  is  no  question  that  this  inspector  was  in 
the  pay  of  Rosenthal.  At  least,  that  was  the  opin- 
ion of  his  superiors  who  dismissed  him.  Rosen- 
thal was  placed  under  arrest  as  he  attempted  to 
leave  the  pier,  and,  upon  being  arraigned  before 
a  United  States  Commissioner  at  Hoboken,  was 
remanded  under  two  thousand  dollars  bail.  The 
Grand  Jury  at  Trenton  afterwards  indicted  him. 
His  goods  were  regularly  condemned,  and  those 
which  the  Government  could  legally  sell  were  dis- 
posed of  at  auction.  The  others  were  destroyed 
by  the  United  States  marshal. 

This  seizure  amounted  to  $3,992.04.  It  is  a  mat- 
ter of  official  record  that  the  illegal  importation  of 
phenacetine  stopped,  in  a  great  measure,  with  the 
arrest  of  Rosenthal. 


HOW  RICH  MEN  SMUGGLE 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  professional  smug- 
glers are  the  only  ones  to  smuggle.  It  is  a  sad 
commentary  upon  the  honesty  of  the  rich  man 
that  many  of  his  kindred  believe  it  to  be  part  and 
parcel  of  the  trade  of  life  to  defraud  Uncle  Sam 
at  every  opportunity.  I  was  once  told  by  one  who 
spent  many  years  in  the  service  of  the  Treasury 
Department  that  if  I  valued  my  official  position 
I  must  shut  my  eyes  to  many  of  the  weaknesses  of 
men  of  means  and  influence. 

**You  never  know  what  wire  they  can  pull," 
said  this  veteran  agent,  adding:  "It  is  a  hobby 
with  some  of  them  to  try  to  defraud  the  Govern- 
ment. Outside  their  circle  it  would  be  called  'rob- 
bery'; but,  to  be  charitable,  we,  in  an  official  ca- 
pacity, call  it  'lapse  of  memory.'  " 

"Wliile  I  have  always  respected  the  wishes  of  the 
rich  man,  provided  he  was  good,  I  cannot  say  that 
I  have  shied  nuicli  when  they  have  brandished  the 
signal,  "I  have  a  pull,"  as  they  have  frequently 
done.  I  realized  that  so  long  as  I  did  my  duty  in 
the  premises,  no  matter  what  the  circumstances 
might  be,  nobody  in  Washington  or  elsewhere,  be 

420 


HOW  RICH  MEN  SMUGGLE  421 

he  high  or  lowly,  could  consistently  object  to  any 
fruit  of  my  labors. 

As  an  illustration  that  even  wealthy  men  are 
sometimes  quite  frail  when  it  comes  to  importing- 
gems  or  other  precious  stones  without  the  formal- 
ity of  an  official  declaration,  I  will  cite  the  cases 
of  Joy  Knickerbocker,  president  of  a  large  con- 
cern, and  W.  H.  White.  Any  one  of  these  men 
is  able  to  pay  the  total  operating  expenses  of  the 
Custom  House  for  a  year  without  impoverishing 
his  annual  income.  The  case  of  Mr.  Knickerbocker 
was  a  clear  one  of  "lapse  of  memory."  He 
''really"  did  not  know  that  pearls  were  dutiable 
when  imjDorted  under  certain  conditions.  As  I 
was  mainly  responsible  for  the  collection  of  duty 
in  the  three  instances,  I  will  tell  the  story  of  them 
as  it  occurred. 

As  a  result  of  my  trip  to  Europe  during  the 
month  of  July,  1901, 1  reported  on  my  return  that 
Joy  Knickerbocker  had  arrived  home  a  year  be- 
fore and  had  been  permitted  to  pass  his  baggage 
off  the  pier  without  the  payment  of  any  duty.  I 
was  in  possession  of  information  that  Mr.  Knick- 
erbocker had  purchased  from  the  house  of  Gold- 
smith, of  London,  a  pearl  necklace,  valued  at 
thirty  thousand  dollars,  and  I  told  Collector  Bid- 
well  that  I  desired  very  much  to  seize  the  prop- 
erty when  Mr.  Knickerbocker,  who  was  still 
abroad,  returned. 

Mr.  Knickerbocker  reached  the  west  side  of  the 


422   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

metropolis  in  the  Kaiser  Willielm  der  Grosse  on 
September  — ,  1900,  the  very  day  on  which 
I  was  subpoenaed  to  appear  before  the  Grand 
Jury  in  the  city  of  Trenton  in  the  case  of 
Mrs.  G.  F.  Hall.  It  was  impossible  for  me 
to  get  out  of  appearing  at  this  trial,  and 
the  Collector  decided  to  send  a  deputy  of  the 
third  division,  who  had  charge  of  the  special 
deputy  collectors  who  act  as  staff  officers,  to  inter- 
view ]\Ir.  Knickerbocker  when  he  touched  the  pier. 

The  deputy  collector  asked  Mr.  Knickerbocker 
if  he  had  purchased  anything  sj)ecial  on  the  trip 
just  ended,  and  the  steel  wire  magnate  admitted 
to  three  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  dresses  bought 
by  his  wife,  which  were  declared.  He  stopped  there. 
Pressed  by  the  deputy  collector,  ]\[r.  Knicker- 
bocker announced  that  he  had  purchased  a  pearl 
necklace  valued  at  ten  thousand  dollars,  but  in- 
sisted that  the  two  items  he  had  merjtioned  con- 
sisted of  his  entire  jjurchases  while  abroad. 

The  customs  official  then  stated  that  Collector 
Bidwell  had  information  of  the  purchase  in  Eu- 
rope of  a  necklace  by  ]\rr.  Knickerbocker  and  that 
duty  had  not  been  collected  upon  it.  Mr,  Knicker- 
bocker looked  surprised  for  a  moment,  but  upon 
being  assured  that  the  Government  had  the  neces- 
sary information  he  admitted  that  he  had  such  a 
neekhice,  and  added  that  he  had  failed  to  x^ay  duty 
u])on  it. 

Mr.  Knickerbocker  is  one  of  the  shrewdest  busi- 


HOW  RICH  MEN  SMUGGLE  423 

ness  men  in  the  public  eye,  but  he  was  thoroughly 
unijrepared  for  the  next  question  that  the  deputy 
collector  asked.  At  least,  his  face  showed  much 
color  as  he  was  requested  to  state  if  any  additional 
value  had  been  added  to  the  necklace  since  its  orig- 
inal iDurchase.  After  a  second's  hesitation  he 
made  reply  that  six  thousand  dollars'  worth  of 
pearls  had  been  placed  upon  this  necklace  since  its 
purchase,  and  this  fact  being  duly  established,  he 
readily  estimated  the  value  of  the  necklace  to  be 
about  thirty-five  thousand  dollars,  foreign  value. 

Having  satisfied  himself  that  Mr.  Knickerbocker 
thoroughly  understood  the  situation,  the  deputy 
collector  informed  the  man  that  both  necklaces 
were  clearly  dutiable  at  the  rate  of  sixty  per  cent. 
A  few  days  after  this  Mr.  Knickerbocker  sent  in 
his  check  for  $28,923.10,  which  represented  the 
sum  on  the  ajDpraised  value  of  $48,000,  which  in- 
cluded $3,000  on  Mrs.  Knickerbocker 's  frocks. 

I  learned  of  the  White  purchase  of  pearls  while 
I  was  still  abroad  in  July  of  1901.  All  that  I  could 
glean,  at  first — and  even  this  meager  information 
it  took  me  some  days  to  obtain — was  that  an  Amer- 
ican woman  had  made  the  purchase  at  a  famous 
establishment.  At  this  place  I  inquired  in  various 
ways,  but  all  the  information  I  could  get  was  that 
the  lady  was  a  comparatively  young  woman ;  that 
she  came  in  her  carriage  with  livery;  that  she 
might  be  in  Paris  even  at  that  time,  but  that  no- 
body in  the  store  was  able  to  identify  her.    Oh, 


424   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

dear,  no,  they  could  not.  She  did  not  leave  any 
name,  and  nobody  there  seemed  to  know  where 
she  resided,  if  she  resided  at  all.  This  and  a  lot 
more  that  does  not  really  affect  the  case. 

It  is  a  matter  of  official  record  how  I  learned 
that  the  woman  who  purchased  this  necklace, 
wliich  the  jewelers  admitted  was  worth  thirty 
thousand  dollars — and  about  all  that  they  would 
admit — had  come  to  America,  and  to  the  Holland 
House  I  went  one  day  in  search  of  W.  H.  White, 
who,  I  felt  sure,  would  be  able  to  tell  me  something 
about  the  purchase  abroad  by  his  wife  of  a  tliirty- 
thousand-dollar  necklace,  upon  which  she  had  neg- 
lected to  pay  duty. 

I  did  not  see  Mr.  White  that  day,  although  he 
resided  at  that  hotel,  but  in  October,  in  the  com- 
pany of  Mr.  Small,  the  private  secretary  of  Col- 
lector Bidwell,  I  called  at  his  office,  on  lower 
Broadway,  and  interviewed  Mr.  White  for  the  first 
time  upon  the  purchase  of  the  necklace  in  ques- 
tion. Mr,  White  did  not  relish  the  situation,  that 
was  clear,  but  he  stated  that  it  was  true  that  Mrs, 
White  had  been  abroad  in  July  with  a  party  of 
friends  and  that  later  on  he  had  gone  abroad  to 
return  with  her. 

I  will  give  the  remainder  of  Mr.  White's  state- 
ment, so  that  it  may  be  understood  how  reallj^  for- 
getful a  man  may  become.  In  substance,  this  is 
what  Mr.  ^Hiite  said : 

"When  Mrs.  White  went  away  to   Europe  I 


HOW  EICH  MEN  SMUGGLE  425 

asked  her  not  to  tell  me  of  any  purchases  she  might 
make  while  abroad.  I  did  not  want  to  know.  I 
told  her  that  if  she  should  bny  anything  abroad 
and  not  declare  it,  I  hoped  it  would  be  seized.  I 
do  not  know  that  Mrs.  White  has  purchased  abroad 
such  a  necklace  as  you  describe,  but  I  shall  ask  her 
at  the  first  opportunity  and  will  let  you  gentlemen 
know. ' ' 

The  following  Monday  Mr.  White  called  upon 
Collector  Bidwell  at  the  latter 's  office  and  pro- 
duced the  necklace,  which  he  said  Mrs.  White  had 
purchased  in  Paris.  The  foreign  value  of  the  mag- 
nificent string  of  pearls  which  he  displayed  to  the 
head  of  the  Custom  House,  as  appraised  by  that 
office,  was  $31,116,  and  the  duty  which  we  collected 
from  Mrs.  White  was  $18,669.60,  making  the  home 
value  of  the  necklace  $49,785.60. 

I  consider  Mr.  AYhite  very  fortunate  in  being 
permitted  to  pay  duty  on  this  jewelry,  for  if  ever 
precious  stones  should  have  been  confiscated,  it 
was  in  this  instance.  With  one  exception,  the 
White  necklace  was  the  most  perfect  one  I  ever 
saw,  the  brilliancy  of  the  pearls  and  their  coloring, 
and  even  graduation,  being  exceptionally  desir- 
able. 


NECKLACE  SMUGGLED  IN  HER  MUFF 

In  several  instances  the  work  of  the  anonymous 
letter-writer  has  been  invited  by  the  Government 
officials.  I  recall  an  interesting  conversation 
which  I  once  had  with  a  most  successful  Fifth  Ave- 
nue jeweler.  It  was  during  my  investigations 
into  the  Lejeune  case.  The  jeweler  had  compli- 
mented me  upon  my  success,  particularly  in  secur- 
ing so  many  pearl  necklaces  that  year. 

"Why,"  said  he,  during  a  general  discussion, 
"I  know  at  least  a  dozen  society  people,  all  high 
in  the  church,  who  have  been  abroad  within  the  last 
few  years  and  who  have  purchased  necklaces 
worth  from  fifty  thousand  to  two  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  each,  without  paying  duty  on  the 
same.  They  have  come  here  to  my  store  and 
boasted  of  their  cleverness  in  getting  the  stuff  in 
without  detection.  One  woman,  who  last  year  gave 
an  immense  sum  to  charity,  told  me  that  she  pur- 
chased a  necklace  of  pearls  and  pigeon  blood  ru- 
bies from  a  Rue  de  la  Paix  jeweler  in  Paris  for  a 
million  francs.  'I  brought  it  in  in  my  muff,'  she 
told  me." 

I   was   certainly   surprised   at   the   statement, 

426 


NECKLACE  SMUGGLED  IN  MUFF  427 

knowing  the  man  to  be  tliorouglily  honest  in 
speecli,  and  I  thanked  him  for  the  information, 
adding : 

"T  am,  unfortunately,  not  a  mind  reader.  You 
have  the  names  of  a  thousand  or  more  clients  on 
your  books.  I  cannot  grasp  the  name  of  this  par- 
ticular woman  out  of  the  air." 

''She  is  doubtless  thankful  for  that,"  he  said 
quietly. 

"Well,"  said  I,  ''it  is  too  bad.  But  the  infor- 
mation may  possibly  reach  me  some  day." 

"Possibly,"  was  his  comment,  as  he  toyed  with 
a  tiara  worth  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars. 

"Yes,"  I  continued,  nothing  daunted.  "Do  you 
know,  I  sometimes  receive  anonymous  communi- 
cations. In  the  majority  of  cases  they  amount  to 
nothing." 

"What  do  you  do  with  these  anonymous  com- 
munications?" the  jeweler  asked  me. 

"The  waste-basket  is  usually  the  recipient  of 
them,"  said  I. 

' '  Indeed ! "  he  remarked.  ' '  AVliat  would  be  the 
fate  of  an  anonymous  communication  regarding  a 
certain  pearl  necklace  should  you  receive  one  1 ' ' 

"It  will  be  immediately  destroyed.  Do  you  know, 
I  have  hopes  of  receiving  one  to-morrow  morn- 
ing." 

"A  favorite  author  of  mine,"  said  he,  "once 
said  that  all  that  was  necessary  was  to  stand  on 


428   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

guard  with  an  assured  countenance.  I  believe  that 
he  was  right.  There  is  no  saying  but  that  you  may 
get  an  anon}^nous  letter  as  soon  as  to-morrow 
morning,  perhaps.  I  do  not  always  believe  in 
anonymous  communications,  but  you  do  right  in 
destroying  them  immediately.  Come  in  again 
when  you  are  in  this  neighborhood. ' ' 

Strange  to  relate,  I  did  receive  an  anonymous 
letter  in  the  first  mail  the  following  morning.  And 
stranger  still  to  relate,  I  made  the  acquaintance 
of  a  charitably  inclined  woman  a  few  days  after, 
and,  if  I  remember  rightly,  1  was  not  presented  to 
her  at  a  pink  tea.  We  got  on  surprisingly  well  on 
short  acquaintance,  and  it  did  not  take  me  very 
long  to  discover  that  her  mind  ran  to  giving  alms 
and  smuggling  pearl  necklaces. 


THE  MAXIMILIAN  JEWELS 

When  Maximilian  was  Emperor  of  Mexico  lie 
owned  one  of  the  most  costly  jeweled  crowns  in 
the  world.  Photographs  of  it  were  distributed 
broadcast  as  showing  the  highest  perfection  in  the 
art  of  setting  precious  stones.  Some  of  the  stones 
were  described  officially  as  being  enormous  in 
weight,  and  their  color  and  brilliancy  were  classed 
with  a  dream.  Early  in  November  of  1900  news 
was  received  in  New  York  that  several  Mexicans 
were  in  the  city  trying  to  dispose  of  some  of  the 
most  expensive  stones  that  were  formerly  in  Maxi- 
milian's crown.  I  located  the  men  at  the  Hotel 
Bartholdi,  where  they  had  a  gorgeous  suite,  and 
learned  that  they  had  come  to  the  metropolis  from 
Mexico  by  way  of  St.  Louis. 

These  men,  I  readily  found,  were  no  ordinary 
smugglers,  and  would  require  a  great  deal  of  care- 
ful watching  before  they  could  be  plucked.  For 
ten  days  they  were  shadowed  as  faithfully  as  hu- 
man agency  could,  but  it  was  not  until  November 
12  that  the  least  flaw  could  be  found  in  their  ac- 
tions. 

On  that  date  I  followed  three  of  the  men  from 

429 


430   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

the  Bartlioldi  to  the  office  of  a  diamond  appraiser 
on  Sixteenth  Street,  between  Broadway  and  Fifth 
Avenue.  From  a  convenient  position  on  the  street 
I  was  able  to  see,  without  being  observed,  every- 
thing that  the  men  did  in  the  appraiser's  office. 

One  of  the  men  seemed  to  be  doing  all  the  talk- 
ing, and  I  afterwards  learned  that  he  was  General  ^ 
Marco.  In  his  behalf  I  wish  to  say  that  I  think 
he  told  the  truth  when  he  subsequently  said  that 
he  was  merely  acting  as  an  interpreter  and  knew 
little  or  nothing  of  the  reputations  of  his  com- 
panions. 

I  saw  General  Marco  hand  over  a  large  pack- 
age, which  the  appraiser  examined  in  a  most  mi- 
nute way.  The  trio  spent  nearly  a  whole  hour  in 
the  appraiser's  office,  and  when  they  emerged  it 
was  to  walk  rapidly  in  the  direction  of  Broadway, 
I  kept  my  eye  closely  upon  the  smallest  of  the 
three,  because  it  was  he  who  had  taken  the  package 
back  from  the  appraiser. 

The  trio  turned  sharj^ly  into  Broadway,  and,  as 
it  was  the  busiest  time  of  the  day  and  tlie  thor- 
oughfare congested  with  pedestrians,  I  decided  to 
take  action  then  and  there.  At  the  corner  of  Broad- 
way and  Eighteenth  Street  I  placed  the  three  un- 
der arrest.  The  two  companions  of  General  Marco 
threatened  to  resist  arrest,  so  I  called  a  policeman 
and  took  all  hands  to  the  police  station. 

General  Marco  went  literally  to  pieces  when  ar- 
raigned at  the  station-house  desk,  and  insisted 


THE  MAXIMILIAN  JEWELS        431 

that  he  was  shnply  acting  as  a  servant  of  the  men. 
A  crowd  of  over  three  thousand  had  followed  us 
to  the  station,  and  the  two  Mexicans,  who  were 
unable  to  speak  a  word  of  English,  turned  repeat- 
edly to  the  crowd  and  pleaded  that  my  action  was 
an  outrage. 

The  Mexicans  gave  their  names  as  Velo  M. 
Preza  and  Alejandro  A.  Marouci,  which  were  the 
same  as  those  aj^pearing  on  the  hotel  register. 
V7ith  the  aid  of  several  detectives  I  searched  the 
two  Mexicans  first.  Not  a  scrap  of  jewelry  was 
found  upon  them,  but  Preza  had  two  return  tickets 
to  Mexico.  General  Marco  seemed  such  a  good  old 
soul  that  I  hesitated  about  searching  him;  so  I 
said: 

* '  Before  searching  you.  General,  I  wish  to  give 
you  an  opportunity  to  make  a  statement.  If  you 
have  on  your  person  any  jewels  that  do  not  belong 
to  you  I  want  you  to  surrender  them. ' ' 

He  made  reply  without  the  least  hesitancy. 

**Yes,  this  package  of  jewels  belongs  to  these 
men.  I  have  no  connection  with  them,  however. 
I  am  simply  employed  as  an  interpreter.  They  do 
not  talk  English." 

He  pulled  from  his  pocket  a  huge  package,  which 
he  handed  to  me.  I  opened  it  and  found  a  brooch 
with  a  diamond  in  the  center.  This  diamond  had 
a  yellow  cast,  and  was  afterwards  found  to  weigh 
33  7-10   carats.     There   were   eighteen   diamonds 


432   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

surrounding  this  center  stone,  none  of  which 
weighed  less  than  one  carat. 

Two  rings,  each  containing  a  large  diamond, 
were  discovered  wrapped  in  tissue  paper.  One  of 
the  rings  had  a  most  peculiar  setting,  as  though 
it  contained  a  "crown."  Each  ring  diamond 
weighed  five  carats.  They  also  had  a  yellowish 
tint.  A  leather  case  which  had  held  the  jewels  was 
found  to  contain  a  memorandum  stating  that ' '  the 
large  diamond  weighed  33  7-10  carats  and  was 
from  the  necklace  of  Maximilian  of  1860."  An- 
other memorandum  said  that  one  of  the  rings  was 
on  Maximilian's  finger  ''at  the  time  he  was  shot." 

There  was  a  certificate  of  a]^praisement,  and 
when  I  asked  General  Marco  about  it  he  said  that 
it  had  been  secured  so  that  an  advantageous  price 
might  be  obtained  for  the  jewels  in  a  sale  that  was 
to  be  consummated. 

This  is  the  plan  as  the  General  unfolded  it: 

The  certificate  of  the  appraiser  was  to  be  shown 
to  Miss  Lillian  Russell,  the  actress,  and  to  other 
persons  who  were  inclined  to  wear  massive  pieces 
of  jewelry.  One  woman,  the  wife  of  a  banker,  had 
intimated  that  she  would  be  proud  to  be  the  pos- 
sessor of  a  jewel  which  had  been  worn  by  Queen 
Carlotta,  and  the  certificate  was  intended  to  get 
a  larger  value  from  her  than  the  jewelry  was 
really  worth. 

When  the  pair  of  Mexicans  saw  that  General 
Marco  had  betrayed  them  they  confessed  to  me 


THE  MAXIMILIAN  JEWELS        433 

that  tbey  had  come  north  through  a  prearrange- 
ment.  The  moment  they  arrived  in  the  metropolis 
they  entered  into  negotiations  with  a  well-known 
and  popular  clubman  who  desired  to  buy  the  jew- 
els for  one  of  his  mistresses.  He  was  known  to 
have  at  least  four  of  these  expensive  luxuries. 
This  narrative  might  be  made  spicy  by  giving  the 
clubman's  name,  but  as  he  has  since  married  and, 
I  hope,  settled  down  to  one  household,  it  would, 
perhajDS,  do  more  harm  than  good  to  tell  who  he  is. 

Marco  was  not  detained.  The  two  Mexicans 
were  arraigned  before  the  LTnited  States  Commis- 
sioner and  held  for  the  Grand  Jury.  The  case  was 
disposed  of  by  the  District  Attorney  by  the  con- 
fiscation of  the  jewelry,  with  the  exception  of  one 
of  the  rings,  which  was  returned.  The  men  were 
23ermitted  to  depart  for  home  and  the  indictment 
has  since  been  quashed.  The  value  of  the  prop- 
erty seized  was  variously  estimated,  the  newspa- 
pers bringing  the  figures  up  to  ninety-six  thousand 
dollars.  That  estimate  was  a  little  too  high.  Who 
owned  the  jewels,  whether  or  not  they  belonged  to 
Maximilian  or  Carlotta,  or  how  they  came  into  the 
possession  of  Preza  and  Marouci  I  have  never  dis- 
covered. All  I  really  know  about  the  sequel  of  the 
case  is  that  not  long  since  I  received  an  unsigned 
letter  from  Mexico,  which  said  in  cheerful 
Spanish : 

'"''Suffre  por  saber,  y  trabaja  por  tener.  Al  horn- 
hre  bueno  no  le  busquen  abolengo.'^    ("Suffer  in 


434   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

order  to  kuow,  and  labor  in  order  to  have.    No  one 
explores  a  good  man's  pedigree.") 

The  apostrophe  or  applicableuess  of  which  is  all 
Greek  to  me.    But,  then,  Spanish  wisdom  is  odd. 


HOW  SMUGGLERS  SMUGGLE 

If  all  the  tricks  of  the  smuggler's  trade  were 
known  to  the  customs  officials  there  would  be  no 
necessity  for  special  Treasury  agents  or  those  spe- 
cial inspectors  who  are  employed  in  revenue  work. 
That  a  good  many  of  the  tricks  are  known  is  evi- 
denced by  the  constantly  increasing  sums  that  are 
being  collected  upon  the  piers  and  along  the  bor- 
ders. It  is  possible  for  a  man  or  woman  to  smug- 
gle for  a  time;  that  is  a  self-constituted  fact.  It 
is  impossible  for  either  to  smuggle  for  all  times; 
the  most  hardened  will  admit  that.  As  surely  as 
sunrise,  their  downfall  will  occur  sooner  or  later. 

The  Government  never  assumes  that  a  traveler 
is  dishonest  until  the  traveler  gives  it  some  reason 
to  think  so.  That  is  the  golden  rule  of  the  service. 
It  is  not  emblazoned  with  heraldic  devices  on  the 
walls  of  the  river  piers,  nor  is  it  printed  in  the 
smoking-rooms  and  social  halls  of  the  over-sea 
steamers,  but  it  is  rightly  known  to  all  Govern- 
ment employees  that  no  offense  must  be  given  un- 
less there  be  almost  indisputable  evidence  that 
something  irregular  is  going  on.  It  is  for  this 
very  reason  that  so  many  smugglers  escape. 

435 


436   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

''Better  lose  a  million  than  liurt  a  dozen,"  is  the 
Treasury  Department's  motto.  It  is  just  that  it 
should  be  so.  A  celebrated  business  man  once  told 
an  assistant  in  our  offices  that  he  liked  to  defraud 
the  Government,  because  it  sort  of  made  him  feel 
good.  He  used  to  boast  to  his  friends  how  easy  it 
was  to  deceive  the  country.  His  friends  were  of  a 
communicative  kind  and  told  the  customs  officers. 
The  man  gave  up  going  to  Europe  five  years  ago 
because,  as  he  put  it,  "the  Government  had  it  in 
for  him."  There  is  nothing  really  surprising  in 
the  latter  statement,  if  it  be  true. 

The  ingenuity  of  the  professional  smuggler  ex- 
cels that  of  the  professional  shoplifter.  There  is 
not  such  a  wide  difference  between  the  two,  either. 
Many  who  roll  their  eyes  and  hold  up  their  hands 
in  horror  over  the  crime  of  the  store  thief  consider 
it  no  harm  to  rob  the  Government.  In  reality,  one 
is  as  bad  as  the  other,  and  both  are  on  a  par  with 
the  pocket-picker. 

Some  of  the  modes  of  smuggling  are  worthy  of 
a  better  cause.  One  diamond  merchant,  who  was 
clever  enough  to  make  but  a  single  trip  each  year, 
was  invariably  accompanied  by  his  wife.  Finish- 
ing one  of  the  trips,  he  was  detained  on  the  pier 
and  searched.  There  was  nothing  found  tliat  the 
Government  could  lay  any  claim  to.  The  merchant 
was  very  indignant  over  what  he  termed  ''shabby 
treatment,"  and  told  the  inspectors  that  he  would 


HOW  SMUGGLERS  SMUGGLE        437 

get  even  with  the  department  if  it  took  a  hundred 
years, 

*'The  next  time  I  go  to  Europe,"  he  said,  "I'll 
bring  in  a  lot  of  stuff  right  under  your  noses. 
Mark  me  if  I  do  not." 

The  following  year,  upon  the  completion  of  an- 
other trip,  the  man  was  searched,  and  again  the 
officers  failed  to  locate  anything  that  he  had  not 
declared.  One  of  the  inspectresses  was  instructed 
to  search  the  man's  wife,  but  the  task  revealed 
nothing  of  an  incriminating  nature.  The  officers 
were  certain,  however,  that  the  woman  had  dia- 
monds hidden  somewhere  upon  her  person,  but 
neither  husband  nor  wife  betrayed  the  other  by 
word  or  action.  A  suggestion  was  made  by  a 
young  inspector  that  husband  and  wife  be  sepa- 
rated, and  the  woman  was  taken  to  the  upper  end 
of  the  pier  and  there  placed  under  surveillance. 

The  husband,  although  questioned  at  great 
length,  refused  to  say  that  he  had  any  diamonds 
with  him.  Meanwhile,  another  officer  went  to  the 
wife  of  the  merchant  and  said  that  her  husband 
had  admitted  having  brought  over  the  diamonds ; 
that  she  had  them  secreted,  and  that  he  wanted 
her  to  give  them  up.  The  woman  began  to  cry,  and 
finally  became  hysterical.  It  was  one  of  the  most 
unpleasant  ten  minutes  ever  seen  on  a  steamship 
pier. 

At  last  the  woman  removed  her  hat,  took  out 
the  pins  that  held  her  hair,  and  the  officers  saw 


438   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

a  chamois  bag  tied  closely  to  the  head,  underneath 
the  hair.  The  bag  contained  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  diamonds  of  great  value.  They  were  of  the 
finest  color  and  brilliancy  and  flawless  in  every 
detail.  It  is  needless  to  relate  that  this  merchant 
now  pays  duty  on  his  imjDortatious  and  has  aban- 
doned the  idea  of  revenging  himself  upon  the  cus- 
toms officials. 

The  busiest  period  of  the  year  for  homeward- 
bound  travel  is  during  September,  and  it  was  in 
this  month,  during  1900,  that  an  insignificant-look- 
ing man  came  down  the  gangplank  of  the  steamer 
Trave.  He  was  dressed  in  a  long  frock  coat,  had 
a  new  silk  hat,  the  latest-cut  trousers,  and  carried 
a  swagger  walking-stick.  He  was  fearfully  de- 
formed, however,  and  reminded  one  of  the  hunch- 
back in  the  "Two  Orphans,"  only  he  had  better 
clothes. 

Some  of  the  customs  inspectors  who  were  fond 
of  horse-racing,  believing  in  the  efficacy  of  making 
friends  with  the  hunchback,  asked  him,  without 
any  offensiveness  on  their  part,  if  they  might  rub 
his  "hump."  He  laughingly  said  they  might,  but 
when  they  approached  close  enough  to  do  so  he 
drew  back,  and  one  of  them  became  suspicious. 
They  called  for  a  higher  official  and  stated  their 
suspicions.  The  man  was  asked  to  return  to  the 
ship  that  he  might  be  searched. 

When  his  clothes  were  removed  it  was  found 
that  the  "hunch"  consisted  in  part  of  three  por- 


HOW  SMUGGLERS  SMUGGLE        439 

ous  plasters  pasted  firmly  to  the  back,  and  that  be- 
tween the  plasters  and  the  skin  was  a  package  of 
considerable  size,  wrapped  in  cotton  wadding.  He 
howled  like  a  maniac  while  the  j^lasters  were  being- 
pulled  off,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  I  think  the 
operation  did  hurt  him  a  tiny  bit. 

The  package  was  about  six  inches  long  and  four 
inches  wide,  and  rolled  in  between  the  wadding 
were  several  hundred  pieces  of  jewelry,  consisting 
of  rings,  stick-pins,  brooches,  chains,  necklaces, 
sleeve-buttons,  and  the  like.  The  man  was  a  walk- 
ing jewelry  store,  if  ever  there  was  one.  We  after- 
wards learned  that  lie  bad  made  twenty-seven 
trips  across  the  Atlantic  to  the  States  and  Canada, 
and  that  at  one  time  he  brought  in  an  immense  lot 
of  jewelry  in  a  casket  supposed  to  contain  the  body 
of  his  mother. 

He  denied  absolutely  that  lie  had  ever  said  that 
the  casket  contained  the  remains  of  his  mother. 
He  would  never  be  so  hard-hearted  as  to  bring 
jewelry  over  in  his  mother 's  coffin,  he  insisted.  It 
was  his  brother's  casket,  he  added,  and  he  liad 
placed  forty-three  rings  on  the  dead  man's  fin- 
gers. These  rings  he  subsequently  sold,  but  he 
would  not  tell  where.  We  had  to  accept  Ms  word 
for  everything  he  said  about  the  past,  for  lie,  too, 
insisted  that  he  was  an  honest  man.  He  seemed 
to  be  perfectly  dumfounded  when  told  that  it  was 
a  crime  to  smuggle. 

*'Why,  everybody  that  I  know  does  it,"  said 


440   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

he,  wliicli  was  doubtless  true.  The  man  is  no 
longer  deformed,  nor  is  he  a  smuggler.  He  is  con- 
ducting an  institution  for  the  weak-minded  in  Ber- 
lin.   Such  is  fate. 

Another  famous  smuggler,  who  made  six  trips 
a  year  to  the  other  side,  never  carried  any  greater 
baggage  than  a  small  hand  valise.  He  was  a  man 
of  advanced  years,  a  foreigner,  named  Tuprey, 
which  seems  to  be  a  most  appropriate  cognomen; 
but  he  looked  so  feeble  on  his  stout  walking-stick 
that  for  quite  a  time  no  official  eye  thought  it  nec- 
essary to  view  his  coming  with  suspicion.  He  be- 
came too  active,  however. 

It  was  discovered,  in  the  natural  course  of 
events,  that  the  man  would  invariably  arrive  in 
this  country  from  Antwerp  on  Monday  or  Tuesday 
and  start  the  following  Wednesday  to  return  to 
Belgium.  Usually  he  was  here  forty-eight  hours, 
but  not  infrequently  he  remained  on  this  side  only 
one  day.  This  system  of  hasty  departure  was  the 
first  thing  to  call  attention  to  his  many  transatlan- 
tic trips. 

He  was  shadowed  from  that  on,  and  always 
traced,  after  his  arrival  here,  to  a  firm  in  the 
metropolis  well  known  as  purchasers  of  smuggled 
diamonds.  After  this  he  was  constantly  searched 
on  the  piers  the  moment  he  landed,  but  for  a  long 
time  the  vigilance  of  the  agents  was  unrewarded. 
At  last  one  of  the  inspectors  thought  of  the  cane 
and  asked  the  man  to  give  it  up. 


HOW  SMUGGLERS  SMUGGLE        441 

''Why,  I  cannot  walk  without  a  cane,"  he  said 
in  a  voice  that  indicated  great  surprise  that  any- 
body with  common  sense  should  suppose  for  an 
instant  it  was  possible  for  him  to  even  hobble 
along  without  the  aid  of  his  faithful  companion. 

"If  you  cannot  walk  without  your  cane,"  re- 
marked the  inspector,  "we  will  furnish  a  stretcher 
for  you.  Give  me  that  cane  and  climb  on  my  back. 
I  will  carry  you  to  the  end  of  the  pier.  But  go  you 
must,  if  we  have  to  call  an  ambulance,  and  the  fire 
department,  as  well." 

He  managed  with  the  greatest  difficulty  to  walk 
to  the  end  of  the  wharf  without  the  assistance  of 
his  stick,  and  here  he  was  escorted  to  a  private 
room,  which,  as  is  the  case  on  the  majority  of 
steamship  wharves,  was  set  aside  for  the  purpose 
of  searching  suspects.  It  did  not  take  long  to 
discover  that  the  cane  carried  by  Tuprey  was 
made  of  bamboo,  that  it  had  a  cap  which  could  be 
unscrewed  at  will^  and  that  inside  the  cane  were 
seventeen  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  diamonds. 

Confronted  with  a  handful  of  the  finest  kind  of 
brilliants,  which  a  few  seconds  before  had  been 
hidden  within  the  walls  of  the  bamboo  stick,  the 
man  told  the  authorities  how  he  had  carried  on  his 
nefarious  business.  He  said  that  after  landing 
he  always  went  direct  to  the  diamond  smuggling 
firm  (the  members  of  which,  by  the  way,  belong  to 
one  of  the  most  influential  churches  of  New  York), 
unscrewed  the  cap  and  turned  the  stuff  over  to 


U2   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

the  firm  by  emptying  the  contents  of  the  cane  upon 
tlie  desk  of  the  senior  member  of  the  establish- 
ment. The  latter,  who  is  a  director  in  a  savings 
bank  as  well  as  a  supposedly  God-fearing  citizen, 
would  then  take  the  snmggler  out  to  lunch  or  din- 
ner, as  the  case  might  be,  and  Tuprey  would  re- 
main in  the  Empire  City  just  long  enough  to  pur- 
chase a  draft  on  some  bank  in  Antwerp  and  take 
the  next  steamer  home.  Then  he  would  buy  an- 
other lot  of  diamonds,  refill  his  cane  with  the  non- 
chalance of  a  college  lad  feeding  his  pipe  with 
choice  tobacco,  and  set  sail  to  do  the  whole  per- 
formance over  again. 

It  is  remarkable  how  finnly  and  rapidly  Tuprey 
walked  without  his  cane  when  his  property  was 
confiscated  and  he  was  told  to  get  out  of  the  coun- 
try and  never  return.  His  record  between  the 
Custom  House  and  the  steamship  pier  is  yet  un- 
broken for  straight  heel-and-toe  work. 

Bringing  valuables  into  the  country  in  one's 
shoes  was  formerly  a  favorite  trick  of  the  pro- 
fessional smuggler.  On  one  occasion  a  Chicago 
man  was  found  to  have  forty-two  chains,  one  hun- 
dred and  twelve  diamonds  and  forty-three  pearls 
in  his  boots.  It  is  with  no  attempt  at  humor  that 
one  may  seem  surprised  that  a  man — and  he  a 
Chicago  man — should  be  able  to  get  his  feet  and 
this  immense  collection  of  dutiable  goods  into  a 
pnir  of  boots  at  one  and  the  same  time;  but  this 
particular  man  had  the  smallest  feet  that  ever 


HOW  SMUGGLERS  SMUGGLE        443 

came  out  of  Chicago  and  the  largest  pair  of  boots 
that  ever  encased  supposedly  small  feet. 

The  chains,  it  was  learned,  were  carefully  laid 
along  the  inside  bottom  of  the  boots,  and,  as  the 
latter  were  of  the  high-top  variety,  their  wearer 
had  no  great  trouble  in  secreting  the  diamonds 
and  pearls  inside  the  tops. 

Another  smuggler  made  a  business  of  sewing 
precious  stones  inside  the  upper  portion  of  his 
socks  and  holding  the  latter  in  secure  position  by 
means  of  a  pair  of  garters  which  he  patented  him- 
self. He  always  made  his  trips  with  a  half-filled 
steamer  trunk,  containing  a  scanty  supply  of  linen, 
which  he  afterwards  explained,  was  done  to  give 
the  customs  inspectors  the  impression  that  he  was 
poor  and  did  not  have  many  changes. 

One  day,  following  his  arrival  on  the  steamer 
Friesland,  he  was  seen  to  be  limping  about  the 
pier  with  a  look  of  intense  pain.  He  could  scarcely 
walk,  and  was  questioned.  He  said  that  the  vessel 
had  been  struck  by  a  mountainous  wave  and  that 
he  was  thrown  down  and  had  injured  his  limbs. 
One  of  the  Government  officials,  who  was  pre- 
viously assigned  to  the  duty  of  watching  the  man, 
doubted  the  stoiy,  and,  consulting  the  officers  of 
the  ship,  learned  that  what  the  man  said  was  un- 
true. This  official  resought  the  presence  of  the 
limping  passenger  and,  as  did  the  patriot,  Pauld- 
ing, when  he  met  Major  Andre,  the  spy,  on  the 
road  near  Tarrytown  in  1779,  said: 


444   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

''Take  off  those  boots." 

They  were  slices  in  this  instance,  however,  and, 
instead  of  containing-  plans  for  the  delivery  of 
West  Point  to  the  enemy,  they  contained  a  most 
heterogeneous  collection  of  jewelry — pearls,  dia- 
monds and  rubies.  It  appears  that  the  smuggler 
had  in  this  case  failed  to  properly  sew  the  pockets 
in  the  hose ;  that  they  had  broken  adrift  while  the 
ship  was  coming  up  New  York  Bay  and  the  goods 
had  worked  down  into  the  confines  of  his  shoes, 
cutting  his  feet  in  scores  of  places  and  making  it 
almost  impossible  for  him  to  walk. 

The  man  was  relieved  of  his  jewelry  and  his  pain. 
He  was  afterwards  caught  smuggling  precious 
stones  into  the  country  by  placing  them  between 
the  rim  of  bicycle  wheels  and  the  pneumatic  tires 
of  the  machines.  His  wife,  too,  was  a  professional 
smuggler,  thin  and  as  devoid  of  womanly  form  as 
is  a  darning  needle. 

She  arrived  in  New  York  in  1900  with  her 
weight  greatly  increased.  One  of  the  inspectresses 
noticed  that  she  was  built  out  of  all  proportion, 
which  the  unsophisticated  eye  of  man  could  not 
see,  and  when  relieved  of  her  clothes  in  the  pri- 
vate room  on  the  pier  several  thousand  yards  of 
the  most  expensive  laces  were  unwrapped  from 
her  body. 

She  looked  like  the  living  skeleton  of  museum 
fame  when  the  lace  and  herself  were  separated, 
according  to  the  statement  of  this  inspectress. 


HOW  SMUGGLERS  SMUGGLE        445 

She  said  that  she  never  intended  to  smuggle ;  that 
she  was  subject  to  chills,  and  that  she  put  the  laces 
around  her  body  to  keep  it  warm.  ''An'  that, 
mark  you,  is  the  way  av  a  woman,"  as  a  gallant 
musketeer  once  said. 

Still  another  smuggler  of  diamonds,  who  always 
considered  the  insides  of  his  shoes  good  enough 
as  a  vehicle  for  his  goods,  was  formerly  a  manu- 
facturer of  clothing  in  New  York  City.  His  name 
was  Bush,  and  he  was  found  by  Government  offi- 
cers at  Windsor,  Canada,  having  worked  his  way 
from  Montreal  to  that  city,  with  the  special  agents 
close  on  his  trail.  He  took  the  boat  across  to  De- 
troit, and  was  followed  into  the  diamond-selling 
market  of  that  place,  where  he  was  apprehended, 
searched  and  nothing  found  until  the  officers 
heard  his  shoes  emit  a  peculiar  creak. 

Two  packages  of  diamonds,  worth  twenty  thou- 
sand dollars,  foreign  value,  were  found  in  his 
shoes.  The  case  was  brought  to  prominent  atten- 
tion in  official  circles  because  some  of  the  members 
of  the  Diamond  Cutters'  Association  of  New  York 
were  asked  to  employ  counsel  to  protect  the  inter- 
ests of  the  seller  of  the  gems,  who  resides  in  Ant- 
werp. The  Belgian  merchant  had  received  but 
ten  thousand  dollars  as  part  payment  of  the  goods 
sold  to  Bush  and  an  acceptance  of  the  remainder. 
The  case  is  still  in  the  courts  in  Detroit.  I  doubt 
very  much  if  the  Antwerp  merchant  will  ever  re- 


446   DEFKAUDING  THJil  GOVERNMENT 

ceive  any  part  of  tlie  unpaid  acceptance,  as  tlie 
goods  must  be  sold  under  the  law. 

Smuggling  in  cigars  was  once  a  most  profitable 
trade  to  those  concerned.  The  fruits  of  the  late  war, 
resulting  in  a  closer  alliance  of  this  country  with 
Cuba  and  Porto  Eico,  have  more  or  less  stopped 
this  illegal  traffic.  When  the  trade  was  in  full 
swing  the  customs  officers  used  to  board  all  steam- 
ers from  Havana  and  other  Cuban  ports  pretty 
well  down  towards  the  sea. 

This  gave  the  watch-dogs  of  Uncle  Sam  a  better 
chance  to  observe  what  was  going  on  and  to  search 
the  vessels,  if  it  was  found  necessary  to  do  so.  For 
some  years  the  smugglers  made  a  practice  of 
placing  large  quantities  of  the  most  costly  cigars 
into  rubber  bags  and  of  throwing  them  over  the 
ship's  sides  into  the  water.  The  system  was  car- 
ried on  while  the  craft  was  moving  between  Sandy 
Hook,  the  gateway  of  the  metropolis,  and  Quaran- 
tine, inside  the  Narrows,  where  the  health  officials 
went  on  board.  It  was  usually  done  during  the 
middle  of  the  night,  but  the  smugglers  grew  so 
bold  that  even  daylight  did  not  stop  them.  The 
rubber  bags,  with  their  precious  contents,  were 
readily  recovered  from  the  water  by  the  fellow- 
conspirators  of  the  smugglers,  who,  in  small  row- 
boats,  awaited  just  such  an  opportunity.  The  prac- 
tice might  have  continued  for  an  indefinite  period 
had  not  a  disgruntled  snmggler  informed  the  Gov- 
ernment.   In  many  instances  after  that  bags  of 


HOW  SMUGGLERS  SMUGGLE        447 

cigars  were  found  in  the  ship's  boilers  or  in  the 
coal  bunkers,  buried  in  ashes. 

For  championship  honors  and  rare  ingenuity  in 
smuggling  the  name  of  Anson  Van  Bussinair  must 
be  considered  among  the  first.  He  was  a  Belgian 
that  had  tricks  fit  for  a  j^eddler.  He  flitted  be- 
tween the  diamond  markets  of  Antwerp,  Amster- 
dam, Paris  and  London,  and  the  unloading  place 
was  America.  His  trips  here  were,  to  all  outward 
appearances,  thoroughly  conventional  ones.  He 
had  a  brother  who  resided  in  New  York,  and  with 
whom,  while  here,  he  used  to  live. 

It  was  simply  remarkable  how  he  loved  this 
brother.  The  affection  of  Evangeline  for  Gabriel, 
the  devotion  of  Virginia  to  Paul,  the  fondness  of 
Faust  and  Marguerite,  and  the  love  of  Lancelot 
and  Elaine  were  crude  and  commonplace  when 
compared  with  the  deep  feeling  that  existed  be- 
tween these  two  brothers. 

The  only  wonder  was  that  the  Belgian  ever  went 
away,  once  he  arrived  in  New  York.  They  kissed 
and  hugged  in  public,  and  they  robbed  the  Gov- 
ernment and  seemingly  prospered  in  private.  It 
is  history,  many  times  told,  how  bitter  to  each 
other  brothers  have  become  once  they  fell  out,  and 
in  this  particular  instance  these  two  brothers,  fol- 
lowing a  business  quarrel,  hated  each  other  with 
all  the  intensity  of  their  original  love. 

It  was  time  for  the  informer  to  step  in,  and 
Brother  Cain,  of  New  York,  believing  that  the 


448    DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

most  modern  way  to  murder  his  brother  Abel,  of 
Belgium,  was  to  tell  about  his  transatlantic  busi- 
ness transactions,  consulted  the  customs  officials, 
with  the  usual  result. 

The  recital  of  the  story  by  the  Americanized 
brother  solved  a  problem  that  was  a  gigantic  puz- 
zle to  the  authorities  every  time  the  man  from 
Belgium  arrived.  He  had  been  suspected  of  smug- 
gling for  some  little  time  before  it  was  decided 
to  search  him.  Nothing  was  found.  He  was 
searched  so  frequently  on  his  following  trips  that 
the  officials  grew  tired  of  the  phantom-like  chase 
for  evidence,  and  finally  they  let  him  come  in  with- 
out molestation.  Van  Bussinair  never  remained 
in  the  city  more  than  five  or  six  days  and  not  in- 
frequently less,  but  it  was  noticed  that  he  always 
went  back  in  the  steamer  in  which  he  had  arrived. 
The  detectives  never  failed  to  notice  that  the  New 
York  brother  had  a  new  supply  of  diamonds  a  few 
days  following  the  departure  of  his  brother  for 
Antwerp.  They  could  not  figure  it  out  for  the  life 
of  them,  however.  This  is  how  the  stuff  was  im- 
ported, as  shown  by  the  voluntary  affidavit  of  the 
informing  brother. 

With  his  consignment  of  diamonds  safely 
stowed  away  in  wallets,  the  Belgian  usually 
boarded  an  outgoing  ship  at  either  Amsterdam  or 
Antwerp  a  half  hour  before  the  time  fixed  for  her 
departure.  He  had  his  room  engaged  in  advance, 
and  was  well  known  to  the  officers  of  the  craft  for 


HOW  SMUGGLERS  SMUGGLE        449 

the  reason  that  he  made  it  a  rule  to  take  the  same 
ship  on  each  trip,  and  usually  the  room  that  he 
had  occupied  on  the  trip  previous.  This  is  no  un- 
common thing  with  old  ocean  travelers,  who  take 
a  fancy  to  a  certain  ship  and  a  given  room. 

In  the  stateroom  that  the  man  selected  was  to 
be  found  a  lounge  used  during  the  rush  to  Europe 
as  an  extra  berth.  The  lounge,  or  sofa,  as  it  is  tech- 
nically called  in  steamship  parlance,  is  a  station- 
ary affair,  about  as  high  as  the  lower  berth  of  a 
Pullman  sleeping-car.  It  has  an  upholstered  cush- 
ion its  entire  length  and  there  is  a  pillow  made  of 
the  same  material  at  either  end. 

Van  Bussinair,  in  his  original  preparations  for 
smuggling  precious  gems,  worked  at  night — the 
first  one  at  sea — and  bored  a  hole  of  considerable 
size  through  the  deck  under  the  lounge.  There  is 
considerable  noise  when  a  steamer  is  under  way, 
both  from  the  machinery  and  the  swash  of  the 
sea  alongside.  This  noise  was  seemingly  greater 
than  that  made  by  the  man's  auger.  At  all  events 
he  finished  his  job  without  attracting  the  attention 
of  his  stateroom  steward  or  without  being  inter- 
rupted by  anybody  else. 

With  the  making  of  the  hole  in  the  stateroom 
flooring  the  smuggler  secreted  a  bag  containing 
nine  hundred  carats  of  diamonds.  To  prevent  the 
gems  from  rolling  away  or  falling  into  the  bowels 
of  the  ship  below  with  the  pitching  and  twisting 
of  the  hull,  he  had  the  bag  securely  attached  to  a 


450   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

piece  of  stout  wire  and  the  other  end  fastened  to 
the  stationary  bottom  of  the  sofa. 

The  jDresence  of  neither  bag*  nor  wire  could  be 
discovered  by  the  steward,  even  if  he  removed  the 
upliolstered  cushion,  the  bottom  board  concealing 
them  from  view.  With  tlie  hole  once  formed,  the 
Belgian  had  a  full  week  in  which  to  secrete  his 
intended  imiDortation. 

They  were  never  discovered  at  this  end  because 
he  never  brought  them  ashore,  letting  them  re- 
main in  their  safe  hiding-place  while  the  ship  was 
at  her  wharf  recoaling  and  reloading  for  the  re- 
turn trip.  Van  Bussinair  would  wine  and  dine 
with  his  brother  and  take  out  a  return  ticket.  On 
the  day  of  sailing  he  boarded  the  ship,  placed  his 
luggage  in  his  room,  and  a  little  time  before  she 
backed  into  the  stream  his  brother  would  go  on 
board  to  say  a  sad  adieu. 

Once  inside  the  stateroom,  however,  the  smug- 
gler used  to  remove  the  gems  from  their  liiding- 
I)lace  and  pass  them  over  to  his  brother,  who  im- 
mediately went  on  deck,  heart-broken,  to  all  ap- 
pearances,  that  the  two  had  to  part.  No  suspicion 
attaches  itself  to  visitors  boarding  vessels  about 
to  leave  New  York,  and  this  was  the  brothers' 
lucky  star,  for  the  New  York  representative  of  the 
distinguished  household  walked  ashore  with  the 
diamonds  unmolested. 

An  official  investigation  of  this  j^articular  case 
showed  that  the  Belgian  never  brought  in  fewer 


HOW  SMUGGLERS  SMUGGLE        451 

than  nine  luindred  carats  of  diamonds  on  any  of 
these  many  trips,  and  on  one  occasion  he  imported 
as  many  as  twenty-one  hundred.  The  bedroom 
steward  of  the  ship  that  Van  Bussinair  made  the 
giant  portion  of  his  nefarious  trips  on  looked  sad, 
indeed,  when  he  learned  of  the  proceeding.  Why 
he  looked  sad  is  a  question  that  I  am  unable  to 
answer.  He  was  said  to  be  a  good.  Christian  man 
when  at  home  and  not  much  given  to  English,  but 
he  swore  a  good,  round  American  oath  when  the 
yarn  was  unfolded. 


THE  DRESSMAKER'S  WAY 

Following  the  eventful  occurrences  of  March 
24,  and  even  more  important  ones  of  September 
7,  of  the  same  year,  I  was  on  the  Hamburg- Amer- 
ican Line  pier  in  Hoboken  on  the  night  of  Sep- 
tember 7  to  "welcome  home"  some  distinguished 
"tourists"  of  the  company's  steamer  Auguste  Vic- 
toria. Among  these  travelers  was  a  man  who,  ac- 
cording to  rumor,  was  bringing  in  a  quantity  of 
diamonds  in  violation  of  law  There  were  also  on 
board  Mrs.  G.  F.  Hall,  a  dressmaker  of  Chicago, 
formerly  of  Minneapolis ;  Mrs.  McKay,  a  dress- 
maker  with   a    successful  establishment  on  

• Street,  near  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York;  Mrs. 


Simpson,  a  dressmaker  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  and  a 
Mrs.  Janis,  a  swell  milliner  of  the  same  city. 

These  were  quite  a  batch  of  "notables"  to  re- 
ceive unaided,  and  I  realized  on  the  way  across 
the  North  River  that  it  meant  a  lively  night's 
work  for  me.  Davis,  the  deputy  in  charge,  came 
to  me  and  said : 

"Mr.  Theobald,  if  I  can  be  of  any  service  to  you 
to-night  I  trust  you  will  call  ui)on  me.  Anything 
that  you  do  on  this  pier  or  anything  that  you  de- 
sire done  will  be  perfectly  acceptable  to  me." 

453 


THE  DRESSMAKER'S  WAY  453 

It  sort  of  took  my  breath  away,  to  use  a  figure 
of  speech,  and  I  cannot  now  recall  if  I  regained 
my  self-possession  sufficiently  to  make  an  appro- 
priate reply,  because  we  were  not  on  the  best  of 
terms.  At  all  events  I  managed  to  stagger  along 
that  night  without  his  assistance.  My  first  inter- 
view that  evening  was  with  the  passenger  who  was 
suspected  of  being  a  human  diamond  field. 

I  have  not  much  respect  for  the  average  smug- 
gler, but  I  must  say  that  I  was  grievously  disap- 
pointed in  this  man.  He  was  not  nearly  so  clever 
as  I  was  led  to  believe.  It  was  a  most  unpleasant 
half-hour  for  him  while  he  was  being  searched. 
I  permitted  him  to  depart  after  finding  a  lot  of 
diamonds  which,  while  not  of  great  value,  were 
still  interesting  enough  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
he  failed  to  get  away  with  them  without  paying 
the  Government  its  revenue. 

I  went  in  search  of  Mrs.  Hall  and  Mrs.  McKay, 
but  not  only  was  I  unable  to  find  them,  but  I  was 
equally  unsuccessful  in  finding  their  trunks  under 
the  letters  assigned  to  them.  I  knew  the  husband 
of  Mrs.  Janis  very  well  as  a  boy,  and  I  encoun- 
tered him  on  the  pier  while  in  search  of  the  two 
dressmakers  just  mentioned.  He  had  not  been  to 
Europe  with  his  wife,  he  explained,  but  was  anx- 
ious to  get  her  off  the  pier  as  soon  as  possible,  and 
begged  that  the  courtesy  of  an  immediate  inspec- 
tion be  extended  to  his  traveling  spouse. 


454   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

An  old-time  regulation  as  to  the  extension  of 
courtesies  was  then  in  vogue,  and  I  took  Mrs. 
Janis  to  the  desk  and  asked  the  staff  officer  in 
charge  to  detail  an  inspector  to  examine  Mrs. 
Janis'  baggage,  which  was  done.  This  inspector 
has  been  a  long  time  in  the  service  and  is  known 
throughout  it  as  a  faithful  officer,  but,  that  there 
might  be  no  misunderstanding,  I  said  to  him : 

"This  gentleman  is  a  lifelong  friend  of  mine, 
but  I  want  you  to  make  a  thorough  examination 
of  his  wife's  baggage  and  if  you  find  anything  du- 
tiable see  that  the  duty  is  collected." 

Nothing  that  was  subject  to  duty  was  found, 
however,  which  fact  disappointed  several  on  the 
pier  that  night,  who  had  hoped  that  my  words  in 
behalf  of  my  friend  might  prove  a  boomerang  to 
me.  While  the  examination  of  the  Janis  luggage 
was  in  progress  I  went  in  search  of  Mrs.  Simpson 
and  found  that  her  trunks  had  been  passed. 

I  demanded  a  re-examination,  with  the  result 
that  considerable  goods  not  declared  were  turned 
up.  I  was  about  leaving  the  pier  to  go  Mrs.  Mc- 
Kay to  intercept  her  luggage  when  I  saw  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Simpson  enter  a  Waldorf-Astoria  'bus. 
There  was  a  big  trunk  on  top  of  the  'bus,  and, 
failing  to  recognize  it  as  belonging  to  the  collec- 
tion that  Mrs.  Simpson  had  shown  me,  I  stopped 
the  driver  and  said  that  I  wanted  to  see  that 
trunk.    As  I  did  so  I  saw  a  fine-looking  woman 


THE  DRESSMAKER'S  WAY  455 

with  gray  liair  inside  the  vehicle  in  close  conver- 
sation with  the  Simpsons. 

I  had  a  fairly  accurate  description  of  Mrs.  Hall, 
who,  the  steamship  officers  had  told  me,  had  come 
across  in  the  shijD  under  the  name  of  Mrs.  Wall, 
and  I  felt  satisfied  that  the  good-looking,  gray- 
haired  woman  was  Mrs.  Hall.  I  put  my  head  into 
the  'bus  door  and  asked  Mrs.  Simpson  if  the  trunk 
above  belonged  to  her.  She  replied  that  it  did  not. 
Then  I  said  to  the  gray-haired  woman : 

''You  are  Mrs.  G.  F.  Hall,  are  you  not!" 

"Is  that  a  statement,  or  are  you  asking  me  a 
question?"  put  in  the  companion  of  the  Simpsons, 

"I  am  asking  a  question,"  I  made  reply,  not 
relishing  her  apparent  archness. 

"I  will  answer  it  by  saying  that  I  am." 

"Do  you  own  the  large  trunk  on  top  of  this 
'bus?" 

"It  is  not  a  particularly  large  trunk,"  said  the 
woman,  with  a  touch  of  sarcasm,  dealing  me  a 
withering  glance  at  the  same  time.  ' '  It  belongs  to 
me,  nevertheless." 

I  requested  Mrs.  Hall  to  step  from  the  'bus, 
and,  having  done  so.  the  following  dialogue  took 
place : 

"Have  you  declared  the  contents  oi  that 
trunk?" 

' '  I  have  not.    Wliy  should  I  ? " 

"If  there  be  anything  dutiable  in  it  the  Gov- 
ernment expects  you  to  do  so. ' ' 


456   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

"Not  at  all.  Not  at  all.  That  entire  thing  is 
fixed."  ' 

' '  What  do  yon  mean  by  being  fixed  ? ' ' 

''Excuse  me,  sir,  but  I  did  not  say  it  was  being 
fixed.    I  said  that  it  ?ca5  fixed." 

I  ordered  the  trunk  to  be  brought  to  the  little 
custom  house  on  the  pier  and  asked  Mrs.  Hall  to 
go  with  me  to  this  section.  She  readily  complied. 
I  do  not  know  what  induced  me  to  the  belief  that 
a  witness  might  be  valuable  in  this  instance,  for 
I  have  always  gone  it  single-handed,  but  the  idea 
proved  of  great  benefit,  as  subsequent  develop- 
ments showed,  and  Mr.  Wilson,  the  representative 
of  the  Naval  Office  staff,  was  with  me  during  the 
remainder  of  my  interview  with  Mrs.  Hall. 

When  we  reached  the  little  custom  house  on  the 
wharf  I  repeated  the  question  as  to  Mrs.  Hall  hav- 
ing declared  any  dutiable  goods,  and  she  replied 
that  she  had  not.  I  inquired  why  she  had  traveled 
under  an  assumed  name.  The  name  of  Mrs.  Wall 
on  the  passenger  hst  was  a  misprint,  she  said. 
Pressed  for  an  explanation  of  her  previous  state- 
ment that  the  entire  thing  was  fixed,  the  woman 
said  that  the  reason  she  had  not  declared  her  du- 
tiable goods  was  that  she  had  been  promised  pro- 
tection. 

The  matter  was  of  such  a  serious  nature  that  I 
brought  in  another  witness  to  corroborate  me 
when,  next  day,  Mrs.  Hall  appeared  at  the  Custom 
House,  as  she  promised  to  do.    In  the  superficial 


THE  DRESSMAKER'S  WAY         457 

investigation  that  night  Mrs.  Hall  stated  that  she 
had  received  a  code  cablegram  from  her  husband 
saying  that  everything  was  ''all  right"  and  that 
she  need  not  declare  anything  upon  arrival  in  New 
York.  The  trunk  seized  contained  dutiable  goods 
valued  at  20,505  francs,  or  $4,331.15  by  actual  ap- 
praisement. 

I  had  hardly  said  ''good-night"  to  Mrs.  Hall 
on  that  Hoboken  pier  on  the  evening  of  September 
7  when  I  set  out  for  the  McKay  stronghold,  on  the 

uptown  side  of  East Street,  in  Manhattan.    I 

found  a  magnificent  four-story  brownstone  dwell- 
ing, and  from  the  south  side  of  the  street,  before 
I  rang  the  bell,  I  saw  that  somebody  was  celebrat- 
ing the  home-coming  of  the  young  modiste  and 
that  the  house  was  ablaze  with  lights  from  cellar 
to  roof. 

The  moment  I  rang  the  bell  every  light  in  the 
front  of  the  establishment  was  extinguished.  It 
looked  for  all  the  world  as  if  the  entire  gas  supply 
of  that  house  had  been  turned  off  at  the  meter.  It 
was  about  ten  o'clock  when  I  reached  the  house, 
and  I  rang  that  bell  until  one  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing before  anybody  deigned  to  make  an  appear- 
ance. It  was  a  very  warm  night  and  the  windows 
of  adjoining  dwellings  were  open,  but  those  of 
Miss  McKay  were  closed  as  tightly  as  the  head  of 
a  drum. 

I  felt  sorry  for  the  neighbors  about  me,  for  the 
clanging  of  that  bell  was  not  of  a  degree  that 


458   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

would  allay  well-strung  nerves  or  even  induce 
sleep.  But  I  was  there  to  stay,  much  to  the  dis- 
comfiture of  a  watchful  guardian  of  the  law,  who 
hung  behind  the  shadow  of  a  stout  stoop  to  see 
what  I  was  up  to.  Those  neighbors,  too,  who  were 
not  seated  on  friendly  stoops  had  their  night-robed 
forms  in  prominent  positions  at  the  windows,  on 
the  qui  vive  to  see  what  was  going  to  happen. 
Their  remarks  about  "the  poor  man  being  locked 
out,"  or  "Perhaps  he's  tight,"  while  not  entirely 
harmonious  to  my  patient  soul,  were  still  not  of 
an  offensive  nature,  even  though  they  were  highly 
imaginative  and  personal. 

That  I  was  not  a  member  of  the  household  was 
made  known  to  the  street  audience  when,  shortly 
before  midnight,  Mrs.  McKay's  well-proportioned 
Irish  cook  came  along  from  her  "night  out."  She 
asked  me  what  I  wanted,  and  if  I  ever  made  love 
to  a  woman  it  was  on  this  occasion.  I  had  an  im- 
portant thing  to  say  to  her  mistress,  I  told  her, 
and  she  readily  consented  to  see  if  she  could  man- 
age to  get  through  the  iron  gate  in  the  basement. 
I  was  to  wait  a  few  minutes  to  give  her  a  chance 
to  get  in  and  talk  with  Mrs.  McKay.  The  cook 
disappeared  in  the  areaway  and  I  saw  her  no 
more,  the  slam  of  the  big,  iron  gate  informing  me 
that  I  had  been  checkmated,  I  had  no  legal  author- 
ity to  batter  down  the  front  door,  but  I  felt  mighty 
like  doing  so.  The  law  specifically  states  that  one 
cannot  forcibly  enter  a  house  without  the  formal- 


THE  DRESSMAKER'S  WAY  459 

ity  of  a  search-warrant,  and,  not  being  in  pos- 
session of  that  most  important  docmnent,  I  de- 
cided to  pound  away  on  that  bell  if  I  had  to  dis- 
turb the  neighborhood  for  six  months. 

I  could  i^lainly  see  that  I  was  much  more  pa- 
tient than  those  who  were  watching,  particularly 
the  bluecoat,  who,  while  seemingly  statuesque  and 
imperturbable,  kept  his  eyes  on  the  jump.  I  felt 
perfectly  serene  in  the  knowledge  that  so  long  as 
I  remained  in  front  of  that  house  neither  Mrs. 
McKay  nor  any  of  her  agents  would  be  able  to 
dispose  of  anything  imported  on  the  Auguste 
Victoria. 

My  vigil  was  sedulously  maintained  at  that 
door,  except  for  fifteen  minutes,  while  I  ran  to  a 
nearby  drug  store  to  teleiDhone.  I  wanted  to  get 
Collector  Bidwell  at  home,  that  he  might  send  me 
reinforcements,  but  he  was  not  at  home.  I  called 
up  Pinkerton  's  Detective  Agency  to  get  a  few  men 
to  surround  the  block,  but  no  men  were  there.  I 
was  afraid  that  the  dressmaker  might  have  the 
goods  taken  away  over  the  rear  fences  and  out 
through  the  next  street.  The  officer  had  followed 
me  to  the  corner  and  afterwards  went  into  the 
drug  store  to  ascertain  the  nature  of  my  business. 

I  was  a  bit  discouraged  when  I  returned  to  the 
stoop  and  resumed  my  athletic  exercise  on  the  bell. 
It  was  1.15  in  the  morning  when  I  heard  a 
noise  at  the  parlor  window  and  a  feminine  voice 
inquired  my  mission.    The  voice  was  clearly  that 


4G0   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERN^IENT 

of  a  woman  who  was  trying  bard  to  suppress  some 
excitement. 

''I  am  an  agent  of  the  Treasury  Department," 
I  said,  *'and  I  want  you  to  open  this  door." 

"What  if  I  refuse!"  inquired  the  voice,  the 
owner  of  which  I  could  not  see  in  the  darkness. 

'*I  shall  camp  out  on  this  stoop  until  you  do," 
was  the  reply  I  made,  concluding  with,  "My  meals 
will  be  served  here,  too. ' ' 

"You  are  a  mean  man,"  said  the  voice. 

I  made  no  reply,  for  I  realized  that  there  was  a 
well  of  tears  behind  the  statement,  and  I  never 
could  bear  to  hear  a  woman  cry.  I  was  unpre- 
pared for  the  next  move,  for  within  a  second  or 
so  the  voice  said : 

' '  My  name  is  McKay.    Do  you  want  to  see  me ? ' ' 

"I  certainly  do." 

"Very  well,  then,  I'll  open  the  door." 

I  had  counted  upon  this  clever  woman  demand- 
ing to  see  a  search-warrant  or  some  other  court 
paper,  but  she  seemed  to  be  unnerved,  and  the  next 
moment  I  heard  a  chain-bolt  rattle,  a  lock  shoot 
back,  and  there  in  the  open  doorway  stood  Mrs. 
McKay  in  the  most  gorgeous  costume  I  ever  saw 
on  a  woman.  She  was  attired  even  to  her  hat, 
which  was  the  latest  Parisian  creation,  and  as 
costly  as  it  looked  fair.  My  admiration  for  her 
becoming  gown  was  rudely  interrupted  by  the 
question  of  the  dressmaker: 

"Now,  what  do  you  want?" 


THE  DRESSMAKER'S  WAY  461 

**I  am  sorry  to  disturb  you,  Mrs. " 


*' Never  mind  your  apologies,  sir,"  said  Mrs. 
McKay.  ''I  prefer  that  you  come  straight  to  the 
point.  I  am  a  business  woman,  and  moments  are 
precious,  particularly  at  this  hour,  when  one 
should  be  abed." 

''I  want  you  to  light  every  gas  jet  in  this 
house, ' '  I  said  in  a  tone  that  must  have  conveyed 
the  impression  that  I,  too,  was  practical.  ' '  Permit 
me  to  light  the  one  in  this  hall,"  and,  striking  a 
match  on  the  sole  of  my  boot,  I  did  so.  Mrs.  Mc- 
Kay sat  down  on  the  hat  rack  in  the  hall  and  began 
to  cry  as  if  her  heart  would  break. 

I  closed  the  door,  but  as  I  did  so  I  noticed  that 
my  friend  the  bluecoat  was  at  the  foot  of  the  stoop 
and  that  he  was  the  picture  of  curiosity.  He  was- 
not  alone  a  faithful  officer,  but  an  inquisitive  one. 
With  Mrs.  McKay  weeping,  wailing  and  sobbing 
on  that  hat  rack,  I  passed  the  most  miserable  five 
minutes  of  my  life.  A  maid  came  down  the  stair- 
case and,  with  face  perfectly  white  with  anger, 
looked  me  all  over. 

I  heard  the  cook  climb  carefully  up  the  base- 
ment stairs,  and,  although  I  could  not  see  her  for 
the  turn  in  the  staircase,  I  imagined  that  she  had  a 
pot  of  hot  water  in  her  hands  all  ready  to  pour 
down  my  collar  at  a  word  from  her  mistress.  The 
latter  was,  however,  having  a  strenuous  time  of 
it,  and  I  really  pitied  her  from  the  bottom  of  my 
heart. 


462   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

"Go  away,  jDlease  go  away,"  she  sobbed.  ''I'll 
do  anything  in  the  world  to  serve  you.  For  God's 
sake,  do  not  disgrace  me.  I  cannot  stand  the  pub- 
licity." 

I  told  the  woman  that  I  did  not  intend  to  injure 
her  business  or  herself,  but  that  the  Government 
had  been  defrauded  of  revenue  by  her  and  that 
I  i)roi30sed  to  seize  then  and  there  a  quantity  of 
merchandise  which  I  knew  she  had  brought  in 
without  paying  duty  on  the  same. 

''I  want  to  see  your  trunks,"  I  said  in  conclu- 
sion. 

Mrs.  McKay  arose  from  the  hat  rack  and  asked 
me  to  step  into  the  back  jjarlor.  As  I  proceeded 
I  heard  the  patter  of  feet  on  the  staircase  leading 
to  the  basement,  and  I  imagine  the  fat  cook  must 
have  fallen  down  several  steps  near  the  bottom, 
because  there  was  an  awful  rumpus,  followed  by 
the  clanging  of  a  tin  as  it  struck  the  ground. 

Mrs.  McKay  was  too  wrapped  up  in  the  excite- 
ment of  the  moment  to  notice  the  confusion,  but 
I  observed  that  the  savage-looking  maid  smiled. 
The  back  parlor  into  which  I  was  led  was  used  as 
a  fitting-room,  and  in  the  center  of  it  stood  an 
empty  trunk,  such  as  is  used  bj^  dressmakers.  It 
was  about  four  feet  long  and  two  and  a  half  feet 
high.  I  noticed  that  there  was  a  chalk  mark  on 
its  side,  the  private  "0.  K."  of  the  inspector  who 
passed  it,  and  I  also  saw  that  the  steamer  label 
bearing  Mrs.  McKay's  name  and  the  number  of 


THE  DRESSMAKER'S  WAY  463 

her' room  on  the  Auguste  Victoria  was  still  at- 
tached to  it.  I  asked  the  woman  what  had  become 
of  the  contents  of  the  trunk,  and  after  a  moment's 
pause  she  replied  that  she  had  placed  them  in 
closets  on  the  floor  above. 

At  this  moment  the  secretary  of  the  modiste,  a 

Mr. ,  appeared  on  the  scene,  and  I  asked  Mrs. 

McKay  to  show  me  to  the  room  wherein  these 
goods  were.  I  thought  she  would  faint  on  the  way 
ui3stairs.  In  the  right-hand  corner  of  the  room 
on  the  second  floor  was  a  closet  about  ten  feet 
deep,  such  as  is  usually  built  in  a  large  house,  as 
this  one  was. 

Mrs.  McKay  opened  the  doors  of  the  closet  and 
showed  me  all  the  garments  that  she  had  brought 
over.  I  requested  her  to  remove  the  garments  and 
return  them  to  the  trunk  in  the  back  parlor.  This 
the  secretar}^  did.  I  wanted  to  have  the  trunk 
repacked  to  satisfy  myself  that  I  had  all  the  goods 
that  were  imported.  After  she  had  repacked  the 
trunk  I  knew  that  I  had  less  than  half  of  the  goods 
that  the  trunk  originally  contained,  but,  as  I  had 
no  legal  right  to  search  the  house,  I  had  to  be  sat- 
isfied with  what  she  said.  Her  case  was  bad,  but 
the  Government  got  what  was  due. 


MRS.  ROOT'S  LACES. 

Somehow  or  another  I  cannot  be  made  to  be- 
lieve that  Louis  Root  knew  his  wife  to  be  a  smug- 
gler. The  Government  does  not  seem  to  have  had 
the  same  faith  in  the  man  that  I  had.  Yet  I  think 
he  was  an  innocent  tool  of  her  desire  to  cheat 
somebody,  she  cared  not  whom.  Root  and  his  wife 
arrived  in  the  metropolis  from  the  steamer  Fries- 
land,  August  21,  1900.  He  was  then  and  is  now  a 
fine-looking  man.  He  had  perfectly  white  hair,  a 
white  mustache  and  a  commanding  height  and  car- 
riage. 

Mrs.  Root  is  a  woman  who,  according  to  her  own 
story,  sees  little  good  health.  She  looks  about  as 
much  like  an  invalid  as  does  the  average  lad  rob- 
bing a  favorite  orchard.  Of  a  ruddy  complexion, 
with  rich  auburn  hair,  a  vivacious  manner  and 
queenly  height,  she  managed  to  impress  one  as 
being  anything  Imt  ill. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Root  deal  in  high-class  laces, 
usually  made  for  them  to  order  in  Brussels  and 
other  lace  markets  of  p]uro]ie  and  formed  from 
their  own  designs,  Thei'e  is  nothing  shoddy  about 
their  productions,  their  patrons  being  chiefly  the 

464 


MRS.  ROOT'S  LACES  465 

''four  Imndrecl,"  with  every  brancli  of  whom  the}' 
have  a  personal  acquaintance.  Their  income  has 
for  years  been  enormous,  but  Mrs.  Root  had  it  in 
her  blood  to  get  rich  quickly,  and  she  did  not  care 
a  fig  who  suffered,  so  long  as  it  was  not  her  own 
precious  self. 

I  had  no  occasion  to  suspect  Mrs.  Root  of  cus- 
toms irregularities  until  the  August  trip  above 
mentioned.  I  had  met  both  frequently  in  London, 
Paris,  Geneva  and  Luzerne  and  imagined  that  T 
knew  their  ways  quite  intimately.  It  was  their 
habit  while  abroad  to  engage  the  most  expensive 
suites  in  the  leading  hotels,  and  when  they  re- 
turned to  this  side  luxury  lost  none  of  its  charm 
for  them. 

Their  home  was  in  Philadeli^hia,  but  in  New 
York  or  other  big  American  cities,  following  a 
business  trip  abroad,  they  made  it  the  rule  to  put 
up  at  the  finest  hotels  and  send  out  invitations  to 
wealthy  people  to  visit  their  suite  and  examine  the 
latest  high-class  novelties  which  they  had  im- 
ported. 

It  was  marvelous  the  way  the  rich  society  folk 
flocked  to  these  hotel  apartments  and  made  pur- 
chases. Everything  appeared  so  precise  and  reg- 
ular, too,  that  it  came  as  a  sort  of  shock  when  a 
waif  word  coupled  their  name  with  questionable 
methods.  I  had  looked  for  some  days  for  the  com- 
ing of  the  Friesland,  but  the  day  she  arrived  I  was 
held  up  by  a  train  breakdown  and  was  unable  to 


4GG   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

got  to  the  pier  in  time  to  intercept  the  pair.  As 
luck  would  have  it,  the  express  company  to  which 
they  had  entrusted  the  delivery  of  their  trunks 
to  the  Victoria  Hotel,  where  they  were  to  stop,  had 
neglected  to  get  them  away  as  early  as  expected, 
and  I  found  the  baggage  on  the  pier  when  I  got 
there. 

I  immediately  detained  the  trunks  and  told  the 
express  comjiany  to  deliver  them  to  nobody  until 
I  returned.  I  went  to  the  Victoria  and  found  that 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Root  had  been  assigned  to  the  swell- 
est  suite  of  rooms  that  the  establishment  owned. 

Fearing  that  my  mission  there  might  have  an 
undesirable  effect  upon  the  health  of  Mrs,  Root, 
I  invited  that  woman's  husband  into  his  own  sit- 
ting-room. He  was  certainly  struck  dumb  with 
surprise  when  I  informed  him  that  his  reputation 
was  at  stake  and  that  I  was  determined  to  exam- 
ine their  i")ersonal  effects  then  on  the  pier.  Wlien 
able  to  speak  he  asked  me  if  I  was  in  earnest, 
and  said  that  there  could  be  nothing  wrong,  be- 
cause an  inspector  had  already  j^assed  the  luggage. 

"There  must  be  something  terribly  wrong,"  he 
said,  his  face  pained  beyond  expression.  *'I  will 
see  what  Mrs.  Root  says  about  it." 

"With  that  he  witlidrew.  He  was  gone  quite  a  time 
and  when  he  returned  his  face  was  as  white  as  a 
piece  of  blank  paper.  Great  beads  of  perspiration 
were  coursing  down  his  forehead  and  his  lips  were 
blue  from  an  excessive  heart-action.    I  was  afraid 


MRS.  BOOT'S  LACES  467 

he  would  drop  dead  in  his  tracks.  He  sank  into 
a  chair  and  buried  his  face  in  his  hands.  At  last 
he  raised  his  head  and  said : 

"You  are  right.  Mrs.  Root  has  been  guilty  of 
a  terrible  wrong  to  me,  to  you  and  the  Government 
you  represent.  She  has  just  told  me  ever}i;hing. 
It  is  horrible.    It  is  shameful." 

He  went  on  in  this  way  at  considerable  length, 
but  finally  calming  himself  in  a  measure,  he  told 
me  that  his  wife  had  packed  the  trunks  and  that 
he  knew  absolutely  nothing  of  their  contents  until 
she  had  told  him  a  few  minutes  before. 

''Had  I  known  that  there  was  any  intention  to 
deceive,  I  would  not  have  taken  all  the  money  in 
the  world  to  have  permitted  even  the  inspector 
to  be  hoodwinked,"  said  the  importer,  in  going 
into  the  details.  "When  I  left  Europe  in  the 
Friesland  I  was  under  the  impression  that  every- 
thing that  I  had  purchased  there  was  shipped 
through  the  regular  channel  to  my  custom  house 
brokers  in  Baltimore.  Under  this  belief,  I  made 
my  declaration  openly  and  without  fear,  declaring 
nothing  to  be  dutiable  in  those  trunks,  because  I 
never  for  a  moment  thought  that  there  was  any- 
thing dutiable  in  them. 

"The  examination  on  the  pier  was  made  in  the 
usual  way.  Nothing  was  found.  This  was  as  I 
expected,  and  as  has  been  done  for  years,  every 
time  that  I  have  come.  I  am  now  informed  by  my 
wife  that  when  she  packed  these  trunks  she  se- 


4G8   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

cretecl  in  lier  dresses  and  underwear  and  in  her 
stockings  and  in  tlie  bosoms  of  my  shirts  and  in 
ni}'  undergarments  laees  of  the  value  of  five  thou- 
sand dollars  or  upwards.  I  am  perfectly  willing 
to  go  back  to  the  pier  with  you  and  turn  over  every 
particle  of  stuff  that  my  wife  in  her  misguided  way 
has  brought  in." 

Mrs,  Root,  although  complaining  of  her  many 
supposed  maladies,  begged  permission  to  accom- 
pany us  to  the  pier.  The  inspector  who  had  made 
the  examination  had  been  told  by  the  express  com- 
pany of  the  detention  of  the  baggage  under  my 
order  and  awaited  our  coming.  In  the  packing  of 
a  trunk  I  will  back  Mrs.  Root  against  the  world. 
It  is  a  revelation  how  she  did  it. 

The  old-fashioned  way  of  rolling  up  a  pair  of 
stockings  or  hose  was  the  cloak  for  the  conceal- 
ment of  hundreds  of  dollars'  worth  of  the  most 
valuable  lace.  Stitched  in  the  linings  of  the 
dresses  owned  by  Mrs.  Root  were  most  magnifi- 
cent pieces  of  lace.  In  the  bosoms  of  her  hus- 
band's shirts,  in  his  undershirts,  and  between 
handkerchiefs  were  doilies  of  exceptional  value. 
If  she  had  studied  the  tricks  of  smugglers  for  a 
thousand  years  she  could  not  have  been  more  ex- 
pert in  the  art.  I  am  convinced  that  this  was  not 
her  first  attempt  to  smuggle,  but  it  was  probably 
her  last.    It  was  decidedly  a  bitter  lesson  for  her. 

Mr.  Root  was  arrested  and  arraigned  before 
Commissioner  Alexander,  who  held  him   in  one 


MRS.  ROOT'S  LACES  469 

thousand  dollars  bail.  He  subsequently  paid  five 
hundred  dollars  fine,  together  with  the  duty  on  the 
stuff.  I  met  him  recently  in  Paris  and  he  was 
evidently  pleased  to  see  me.  He  said  the  experi- 
ence was  a  most  beneficial  one  to  Mrs.  Root,  add- 
ing, "You  did  my  wife  a  lasting  turn  the  night 
you  came  to  the  Victoria  Hotel. ' ' 

Whether  or  not  I  did  is  a  question.  I  met  Mrs. 
Root  abroad  last  year  and  she  snubbed  me,  an  ex- 
perience that  has  enriched  my  stock  of  knowledge 
about  women  and  their  odd  ways. 


THE  FRANK  DIAMONDS 

Chance  acquaintances  sometimes  get  the  human 
race  into  trouble.  There  was  a  man  named  Frank, 
for  instance,  who  was  over-fond  of  passing  the 
time  of  day  with  strangers.  Aside  from  this  fault 
and  another,  the  mention  of  which  will  appear 
presently,  Frank  was  to  all  outward  examination 
a  level-headed  citizen.  But  he  was  as  cunning  and 
sly  as  the  much-lamented  character  whom  Dickens 
made  famous. 

I  knew  the  record  of  Frank  some  little  time  be- 
fore we  met.  I  "accidentally"  made  his  acquaint- 
ance one  night  in  the  Hotel  Cecil  in  London.  It 
was  on  the  eve  of  our  departure  for  America.  He 
said  that  he  imagined  me  to  be  an  American  and 
I  confessed  to  that  happy  fact.  He  gave  me  his 
card  and  I  extended  one  that  was  not  exactly 
mine.  He  announced  that  he  intended  to  leave  the 
following  day  in  a  Dominion  Line  steamer  for 
Boston. 

My  plans  were  to  go  in  the  steamer  Teutonic, 
that  was  also  to  leave  the  Mersey  the  following 
morning  for  New  York,  but  I  did  not  tell  him  so. 
This  was  during  the  middle  of  September,  1899, 

470 


THE  FRANK  DIAMONDS  471 

and  I  did  not  see  Frank  again  until  the  following 
October  25.  1  gave  him  lots  of  rope  in  the  in- 
terim, however.  It  was  on  October  24  that  he  ar- 
rived at  the  Grand  Union  Hotel  in  the  metropolis 
and  secured  the  best  accommodation  to  be  had 
there. 

I  called  there  at  midnight  of  that  date,  but  failed 
to  find  him.  The  following  morning  I  was  shown 
to  his  suite  and  hammered  on  the  chief  door,  re- 
ceiving no  response.  One  of  the  hotel  attendants 
then  opened  the  door  with  a  pass-key,  and  I  was 
greeted  with  a  round  of  profanity  on  the  part  of 
Frank,  who  was  standing  in  the  center  of  the 
room. 

''What  do  you  want?"  he  finally  demanded. 

"Those  diamonds  that  you  brought  over,"  I 
said. 

' '  Oh,  come  now, ' '  he  said  blithelj^  ' '  I  met  you 
in  London.  You  are  a  Cincinnati  banker.  I  have 
your  card  here." 

"I  am  a  Government  officer,"  was  my  reply. 
"Here  is  my  card." 

He  took  it,  glanced  at  it,  then  laughed  heartily. 
' '  You  cannot  fool  me.  I  know  Theobald  for  twenty 
years.  I  used  to  go  to  school  with  him, ' '  was  what 
he  said. 

I  displayed  my  shield,  told  him  that  I  knew  him 
to  be  a  professional  smuggler,  and  that  I  wanted 
him  to  go  with  me  to  the  Collector  of  the  Port. 

He  said  something  about  being  severely  hurt  by 


472   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

my  unjust  accusation,  and  mentioned  half  a  dozen 
reputable  diamond  firms  in  the  metropolis  who 
would  guarantee  his  honesty.  Would  I  go  with 
him  to  any  of  these  establishments  and  learn  how 
thoroughly  goody-good  he  was? 

To  my  bow  in  the  affirmative  he  furnished  the 
name  of  a  Nassau  Street  firm  in  the  diamond  bro- 
kerage business  and  well  known  to  me.  I  do  not 
know  what  the  business  relations  between  Frank 
and  this  firm  were,  but  the  latter  had  a  rod  in 
pickle  for  the  smuggler,  of  which  he  was  evidently 
not  aware.  He  entered  the  office  with  a  great  flour- 
ish of  importance  and  said : 

"Do  you  know  me  to  be  an  honest  man  and  a 
good  citizen?" 

''The  worst  man  in  State's  i:)rison  is  better  than 
you,"  was  the  unexpected  reply  of  the  broker. 

Frank  boiled  all  over  with  the  comparison  and 
it  was  some  moments  before  he  could  speak. 

"What  the  devil  do  you  mean  by  saying  a  thing 
like  that?"  he  finally  blurted  out.  "This  man  is 
a  Government  officer  and  he  might  believe  what 
you  say." 

"I  know  he  is,"  said  the  broker,  "and  I  know 
you,  too.  You  are  as  crooked  as  the  hind  leg  of 
a  dog.  He  has  made  no  mistake  in  picking  you 
up." 

This  and  a  great  deal  more  the  broker  said. 
Frank  said  several  pointed  things,  too,  and,  taken 
.altogether,  the  war  of  words  was  quite  heated.    It 


THE  FRANK  DIAMONDS  473 

• 
was  interrupted  by  the  arrival  of  another  broker, 

and  I  thought  Frank  was  about  to  faint  when  he 
saw  the  new  arrival.  The  latter  had  a  package 
containing  ten  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  dia- 
monds, and  before  Frank  could  check  him  he  an- 
nounced to  the  broker  in  whose  place  we  were  that 
he  wished  to  dispose  of  them  for  Frank. 

I  immediately  seized  the  gems.  When  we  reached 
the  Custom  House  he  entered  a  formal  protest 
against  Collector  Bidwell  retaining  the  diamonds 
even  temporarily,  but  no  attention  was  paid  to  his 
demands.  I  had  been  informed  some  days  before 
I  met  Frank  that  he  had  some  diamonds  in  a  safe 
deposit  vault  of  the  First  National  Bank,  and  on 
the  way  to  the  Federal  Building,  where  I  was  to 
arraign  him  before  the  United  States  District  At- 
torney, I  insisted  that  he  give  me  an  order  on  the 
bank  for  them.  He  refused  absolutely,  and  said 
that  to  prevent  the  Government  from  getting  them 
he  would  withdraw  the  diamonds  from  the  bank. 

He  went  into  the  vault,  and,  as  I  was  not  anxious 
to  get  into  any  legal  complications  with  the  bank, 
I  permitted  him  to  remove  a  huge  bundle  contain- 
ing many  packages.  As  we  were  coming  down  the 
winding  stairs  I  observed  the  man  abstract  a 
package  and  secrete  it  in  an  inside  pocket  of  his 
waistcoat. 

I  said  nothing  of  this  until  we  returned  to  the 
Custom  House.  Then  I  told  him  that  he  was  mak- 
ing a  grave  mistake  in  acting  unfairly  with  the 


474   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

Government,  which  was  only  too  anxious  to  treat 
him  decently  if  the  goods  then  in  his  possession 
were  shown  to  be  duty  paid. 

''Hand  everything  over  and  let  the  courts  settle 
the  question,"  is  the  way  I  jDut  it. 

He  immediately  deposited  the  packages  with 
the  Collector,  but  incidentally  forgot  to  deliver  the 
one  he  had  abstracted  and  hidden  in  his  inside 
pocket.  I  speedily  found  it  for  him  and  turned  it 
over  to  the  Collector.  It  was  the  smallest  but 
most  valuable  package  of  the  lot,  as  an  examina- 
tion revealed,  containing  ])earls,  emeralds  and  ru- 
bies, Frank  secured  the  most  expensive  counsel 
to  be  had,  but  the  case  never  went  to  trial,  being 
compromised  by  the  payment  of  duty. 


HE  USED  HIS  FRIEND 

The  periodical  smuggler  is  the  more  dangerous 
because  he  is  not  so  readily  suspected.  One  of  the 
most  successful  merchants  on  Maiden  Lane  has 
had  for  some  years  spasmodic  fits  of  virtue.  When 
he  was  good  he  was,  like  the  little  boy  with  the 
mumps,  very,  very  good;  but  when  he  was  wilful 
his  wickedness  ran  to  smuggling.  This  merchant 
carries  in  his  establishment  an  unusually  fine  stock 
of  precious  gems,  and  while  there  is  no  question 
that  he  has  paid  duty  on  the  major  portion  of  his 
wares,  there  is  considerable  question  about  the 
entry  of  the  remainder. 

About  one  year  ago  the  merchant  was  abroad 
on  a  regular  tour  of  the  Continental  markets.  He 
was  in  Paris  when  he  ran  across  a  friend  of  life- 
long standing.  There  was  an  effusive  meeting,  for 
each  was  fond  of  the  other.  The  merchant,  how- 
ever, was  not  averse  to  using  his  friends.  The  one 
he  met  in  the  French  capital  was,  to  use  the  mod- 
ern phrase,  * '  easy. ' ' 

"So  you  are  going  to  start  to-morrow  for 
home?"  said  the  merchant,  when  they  had  com- 
pleted their  exchange  of  compliments.     "I  envy 

475 


47G   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

you.  I  wish  that  I  were  going,  too.  No  place  like 
home.  I  must  remain  here  a  month  longer  to  fin- 
ish business.  I  want  to  give  you  a  send-off  before 
you  go.  Now,  I  won't  take  any  excuses.  I  want 
you  to  come  to  my  hotel  this  evening  and  I'll  set 
you  down  before  one  of  the  finest  dinners  you  ever 
had." 

The  friend  had  much  to  do  on  the  eve  of  his  de- 
parture, but  he  was  a  loyal  friend  and  willing  to 
please.  Plalf  a  dozen  times  that  evening  the  mer- 
chant remarked  how  complete  was  his  happiness. 
It  was  certainly  a  festive  gathering,  and  the  wife 
of  each  man,  who  was  present,  declared  the  dinner 
to  be  unexcelled.  The  wine,  according  to  all  ac- 
counts, was  as  old  and  as  rich  as  the  friendship  of 
the  two  men.  About  the  time  the  servants  were 
assisting  the  guests  to  don  their  wraps  the  mer- 
chant slapped  his  friend  affectionately  on  the  back 
and  said  to  him : 

"Henry,  old  chai:>,  come  to  think  of  it,  I  want 
you  to  do  me  a  favor. ' ' 

"Have  no  fear,  it  will  be  done,"  ejaculated  the 
friend.  "T  have  yet  to  refuse  you  anything.  "What 
can  I  do  for  you  ? ' ' 

The  merchant  took  a  package  about  the  size  of 
a  box  of  safety  matches  from  his  trousers '  pocket 
and,  holding  it  in  his  hand  for  a  second,  said: 

"I  want  you  to  take  this  to  New  York  and  give 
it  to  my  son  Byron,  who  is,  as  you  know,  taking 
care  of  the  shop  during  my  absence.    It  is  a  bunch 


HE  USED  HIS  FRIEND  477 

of  keys  that  I  forgot  to  give  to  him  when  I  left 
home. ' ' 

Without  waiting  for  the  friend  to  make  any  an- 
swer the  honest  merchant  lifted  up  the  tail  of  his 
friend's  evening  coat  and  ran  the  package  into  the 
rear  pocket  of  the  trousers.    Then  he  said : 

"Be  careful  about  those  keys.  See  that  nobody 
but  Byron  gets  them." 

"Byron  will  get  them  personally,  if  I  have  to 
swim  across,"  was  the  reassuring  answer  of  the 
steadfast  friend,  who  shortly  after  made  his  adieu 
and  took  his  departure.  By  midnight  the  friend 
was  whirling  along  the  French  railway  en  route 
to  Cherbourg,  where,  with  his  wife,  he  was  to  em- 
bark on  the  steamer  Deutschland,  that  was  to 
bring  him  to  New  York.  His  dress  suit  was  safely 
stowed  away  in  his  trunk,  and  he  had  forgotten 
all  about  the  bunch  of  keys,  that  lay  serenely  in 
the  starboard  quarter  of  his  trousers,  by  the  time 
that  he  stepped  aboard  the  ship. 

The  Deutschland  broke  the  world's  record  on 
this  trip  to  the  westward.  She  was  half-way  across 
and  throwing  tons  of  water  over  her  cleaver-like 
prow  when  the  merchant's  friend  emerged  from 
the  main  saloon  doorway  to  get  a  breath  of  the 
sparkling  air  before  he  went  below  for  dinner.  It 
was  about  twilight,  and  giant  clouds,  low  down  on 
the  horizon,  were  hurrying  eastward,  like  huge 
pieces  of  cotton.  It  had  been  rough  all  day,  and 
the  noble  ship  was  piling  into  the  big  combers  like 


478   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

a  hungry  colored  ''gent"  sailing  into  a  ripe  water- 
melon. A  reception  and  concert  had  been  planned 
among  the  passengers  to  follow  dinner,  and  our 
friend  was  decked  out  in  his  evening  clothes  as  he 
stepped  to  the  promenade  deck.  He  started  to  go 
forward,  and  had  navigated  some  twenty  feet  in 
capital  style  when  the  bow  of  the  steamer  sank 
into  the  hollow  of  an  Alp-like  wave  that  broke  into 
an  acre  of  foam  and  spindrift  forward  before  the 
craft  recovered  her  buoyancy. 

The  only  recollection  of  this  sea  that  remains 
in  the  memory  of  the  custodian  of  the  keys  is  the 
damage  that  it  did.  A  few  eye-witnesses  say  that 
there  was  a  man  washed  along  the  deck  for  a  dozen 
yards  or  more  and  the  owner  of  the  dress  suit  was 
rudely  deposited  against  the  ship's  rail,  from 
which  he  arose  a  dripping,  frightened  and  profane 
mass  of  humanity.  He  was  soaked  to  the  skin,  and 
limped  as  a  brawny  sailor  took  him  by  the  arm 
to  lead  him  towards  the  saloon  entrance. 

"I  have  hurt  my  hip,"  he  moaned  between  sti- 
fled oaths.  He  ran  his  hand  along  his  back  to  feel 
if  any  bones  were  broken  and  felt  something  in  the 
back  pocket.  He  pulled  it  out  and  discovered  the 
package  which  his  friend  had  given  him  in  Paris. 

"This  darn  bunch  of  keys!"  was  what  he  said 
as  he  held  tlie  water-soaked  package  up  to  the  gaze 
of  a  few  sympathizing  passengers  who  had  hur- 
ried forward  to  learn  if  he  were  hurt.  His  wife 
was  among  those  who  had  gathered  about  him, 


HE  USED  HIS  FRIEND  479 

and,  passing  the  package,  that  now  resembled  so 
much  pulp,  he  said  to  her  : 

*^Take  those  keys  and  keep  them  until  I  arrive. 
Do  not  lose  them,  though.  Oh,  I  'm  not  hurt.  Sim- 
ply fell  on  those  keys." 

They  entered  the  superstructure,  and,  like  a 
half-drowned  rat,  he  limped  down  the  grand  stair- 
case, amid  an  insuppressible  titter  from  the 
thoughtless  but  more  fortunate  voyagers.  The 
man's  wife  met  a  steward  at  the  entrance  to  the 
main  saloon,  and  to  him  said : 

''Steward,  fetch  me  an  envelope  from  the  li- 
brary. The  paper  on  this  package  has  become 
water-soaked  through  the  mishap  to  my  husband. ' ' 

While  the  steward  was  engaged  in  obeying  the 
instructions,  madam  sat  by  her  husband  in  one  of 
the  chairs  of  the  saloon. 

''This  paper  is  useless.  I  will  put  these  keys 
in  an  envelope  and  lock  them  in  your  trunk." 

The  woman  started  to  remove  the  paper,  which 
was  thoroughly  saturated.  Her  husband  was  about 
to  say  that  he  would  go  to  their  stateroom  to  get 
a  change  of  clothing  when,  with  a  cry  of  surprise, 
madam  said: 

"Oh,  you  sweet  darling!  Tried  to  surprise  me, 
and  by  the  merest  accident  I  have  found  you  out. 
Oh,  Henry,  this  is  simply  gorgeous!" 

To  the  amazement  of  the  speechless  Henry,  his 
wife  held  up  to  his  gaze  one  of  the  most  magnifi- 
cent diamond  necklaces  that  he  had  ever  seen.  And 


480   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

while  Henry  was  trj'ing  to  find  his  breath  to  ex- 
plain that  an  awful  mistake  had  been  made,  his 
wife  was  dilating  with  a  number  of  acquaintances 
what  a  dear,  good  fellow  he  was  and  how  he  had 
tried  to  surprise  her.  All  laughed  and  were  filled 
with  admiration  for  the  handsome  necklace,  which 
she  showed  around.  The  husband  seemed  to  bo  J 
the  only  glum  one  in  the  gathering  just  then,  and 
one  of  the  men,  who  thought  that  he  scented  some- 
thing unusual,  whispered  to  a  friend : 

''She  caught  him  with  the  goods  on.  He  must 
have  intended  that  neckgear  for  another  woman. 
Look  at  his  face.  You  can  buy  him  body  and  soul 
for  thirty  cents." 

Henry  certainly  did  look  glum,  but  the  majority 
attributed  it  to  the  fact  that  he  had  received  a 
nasty  knock  and  a  wetting.  They  advised  him  to 
go  to  his  room  immediately.  He  lost  no  time  in 
doing  so.  His  wife  kissed  him  over  and  over  again 
when  they  reached  the  stateroom,  and  he  sat  down 
and  groaned. 

*'How  selfish  of  me  to  dote  on  this  beautiful 
present  when  you  are  in  such  pain,"  she  said. 
''I'll  go  and  get  the  ship's  doctor." 

"No,  no,"  he  said  in  a  voice  that  sounded  unlike 
his  own.    "Go  and  get  the  fool-killer  instead." 

Then  he  told  her  all  about  it,  and  she,  the  wife 
of  his  bosom,  groaned  in  concert  with  him. 

' '  Such  a  shabby,  scurvy  trick ! ' '  said  the  woman, 
in  conclusion.    "What  do  you  intend  to  do  with 


HE  USED  HIS  FRIEND  481 

the  necklace — give  it  up  to  the  authorities  and  let 
them  confiscate  it?" 

Before  he  answered  these  two  questions  he 
thought  of  what  a  good,  faithful  friend  he  had 
been  to  the  diamond  merchant  and  how  their  lives 
had  been  more  or  less  interwoven.  Then  he 
thought  of  the  inequality  of  Irving 's  lines : 

"Sweet  is  the  memory  of  distant  friends! 
Like  the  mellow  rays  of  the  departing  sun. 
It  falls  tenderly,  yet  sadly,  on  the  heart." 

''Like  mellow  rays!"  he  repeated.  "I  wish  I 
had  him  here."  This  and  much  more  he  solilo- 
quized. His  greatest  ordeal  was  yet  to  come,  how- 
ever. This  was  the  battle  with  his  conscience.  He 
knew  it  to  be  his  duty  as  a  good  citizen  and  honest 
man  to  give  up  the  necklace  to  the  customs  offi- 
cials, but  he  was  led  to  believe  that  the  man  had 
made  some  horrible  mistake  and  had  never  in- 
tended to  make  him  a  common  carrier  in  an  at- 
tempt to  defraud  the  Government  of  its  revenue. 
Say  what  his  wife  would,  he  could  not  be  made  to 
believe  that  the  diamond  merchant  was  other  than 
a  friend.  He  had  attested  to  that  fact,  to  all  ap- 
pearances and  purposes,  many  times.  So,  in  the 
battle  between  duty  to  his  country  and  duty  to  the 
merchant,  he  gave  the  latter  the  benefit  of  the 
doubt  and  committed  a  dishonest  act. 

No  mention  of  his  having  the  necklace  in  his 
possession  was  made  by  him  upon  arrival  in  the 


482   DEFEAUDIXG  THE  GOVERNMENT 

metropolis.  The  day  following  he  visited  the  mer- 
chant's establishment  on  Maiden  Lane  and  said 
to  the  son,  who  greeted  him  with  joy  that  was 
boundless : 

'*  Byron,  liere  is  a  bunch  of  keys  that  your  father 
made  me  promise  to  deliver.  Send  him  my  compli- 
ments and  say  that  he  ought  to  know  that  honesty 
is  the  best  policy,  for  he  has  tried  both.  You  might 
also  tell  the  pious  and  oily  old  hypocrite  that  if 
he  ever  attempts  to  speak  to  me  again  I'll  stew 
him  in  his  own  gravy.    Good-day,  Byron." 


THE  BOCK  PEARLS 

All  smugglers  do  not  trade  in  the  genuine. 
Some  have  made  more  money  from  a  handful  of 
imitation  stones  than  they  might  have  realized 
from  a  peekful  of  the  real  articles.  In  the  middle 
of  November  of  1899  I  rounded  up  a  man  who 
had  literally  flooded  the  market  of  America  with 
imitation  pearls.  He  was  Ferdinand  Bock,  and 
claimed  to  reside  abroad,  but  I  knew  him  to  have 
a  big  establishment  in  Providence,  which  was  his 
distributing  depot  for  thousands  of  make-believe 
pearls. 

The  duty  on  imitation  pearls  is  twenty  per  cent., 
and  throughout  America  there  are  hundreds  of 
dealers  in  that  class  of  goods.  These  are  known 
to  be  strictly  honest  in  their  dealings  with  the  cus- 
toms officials,  and  for  several  years  they  were  in 
a  quandaiy  to  understand  how  certain  other  deal- 
ers were  underselling  them. 

Paris  alone  has  more  than  fifty  large  manufac- 
tories of  unreal  pearls,  and  this  fact  alone  made 
it  difficult  to  ascertain  the  avenue  of  distribution 
for  those  that  were  smuggled  in.    Attention  was 

483 


484   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

finally  settled  upon  Bock,  and  when  on  Sunday, 
November  19,  1899,  he  disembarked  from  the 
steamer  La  Bretagne  I  proceeded  to  locate  his 
baggage.  Bock  certainly  looked  anything  but  a 
Go^'ernment  offender.  He  pretended  an  utter  ina- 
bility to  talk  English,  and  said  he  was  a  wealthy 
Frenchman  who  was  en  route  to  Mexico  to  visit 
his  brother.  He  was  dressed  most  expensively, 
and  everything  about  him,  even  to  his  handsome 
Van  Dyck  beard,  was  groomed  with  great  care. 

He  was  killingly  polite,  to  use  the  line  of  an  in- 
spector who  afterwards  examined  his  luggage. 
Had  he  ever  heard  of  Providence?  Yes,  indeed, 
and  placed  great  faith  in  Him.  The  city  of  Provi- 
dence? Never,  It  was  a  very  appropriate  name, 
though.  His  baggage  was  at  the  disposal  of  any- 
body in  authority,  and  he  would  be  delighted  to 
assist  in  making  the  examination  thorough. 

His  vsuavity  was  as  rich  as  his  perfume,  and  both 
nearly  overcame  the  inspector.  Common  polite- 
ness demands  that  the  trunks  of  even  a  suspected 
smuggler  be  examined  with  due  regard  to  his  feel- 
ings. There  is  never  any  dumping  of  their  con- 
tents to  the  pier  floor,  as  some  imagine. 

Piece  by  piece  the  personal  effects  of  Bock  were 
gone  through,  every  article  being  replaced  in  its 
original  position  before  another  was  touched.  He 
had  three  pairs  of  shoes  tied  up  in  as  many  parcels 
in  one  trunk.  Each  jjair  was  tied  heel  to  toe,  upper 
to  upper,  by  the  shoestrings  that  were  attached. 


THE  BOCK  PEARLS  485 

All  were  packed  with  imitation  stones,  pearls  be- 
ing the  chief  ones. 

Bock  had  the  audacity  to  say  that  some  enemy 
must  have  concealed  the  stones  where  they  were 
found.  He  called  upon  all  the  saints  known  to 
church  fame  to  witness  the  fact  that  he  was  an  in- 
nocent victim  of  some  wicked,  designing  person. 
When  I  searched  him  in  a  private  room  on  the  pier 
it  was  to  find  a  package  of  imitation  pearls  hidden 
in  the  tail  of  his  frock  coat. 

He  also  had  several  loose  genuine  pearls  con- 
cealed in  the  band  of  his  high  hat.  He  showed  no 
white  feather  even  when  I  placed  him  under  ar- 
rest. When  brought  before  United  States  Com- 
missioner Shields  he  said  that  he  was  simply  non- 
plussed to  explain  how  the  stones  got  into  his 
shoes,  coat  and  hat.  The  Commissioner  did  not 
seem  to  be  puzzled,  however,  and  he  promptly  held 
the  man  in  twenty-five  hundred  dollars  bail. 

Bock  took  a  train  for  Providence  that  same  af- 
ternoon. Subsequent  investigation  by  Government 
officials  showed  that  he  closed  out  his  effects  in 
that  city  within  the  following  forty-eight  hours 
and  started  for  Paris,  where  he  now  lives.  The 
case  has  never  come  to  trial  and  in  all  probability 
never  will.  Some  experts  who  looked  over  the 
goods  thought  they  were  worth  forty-five  thousand 
dollars.  An  official  appraisement  made  their  value 
only  six  thousand  dollars. 


486   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

It  is  a  notable  fact  that  tlie  number  of  imitation 
pearls  in  this  country  and  Canada  has  been  greatly 
reduced  since  Bock  jumped  his  bail.  His  proiSts 
must  have  been  enormous. 


"WHY  INFORMERS  ARE  DANGEROUS 

Informers  are  dangerous  because  they  are  al- 
most invariably  insincere.  Once  in  a  great  while 
the  truth  comes  out  when  the  injured  fly  tells  upon 
the  wicked  spider,  or  when  some  revengeful  soul 
emits  a  blood-chilling  howl  of  indignation.  The 
great  majority,  however,  count  thirteen  to  the 
dozen  and  say  many  things  they  cannot  prove  any 
more  than  do  the  detectives  and  special  agents 
when  they  have  spent  months  investigating  these 
idle  yarns. 

The  informer,  nevertheless,  feels  satisfied  that 
he  has  done  his  duty  and  has  filtered  through  his 
system  something  that  corrupted  his  blood  for 
some  time.  He  has  gotten  rid  of  something  disa- 
greeable through  the  easiest  of  mediums — the  ink 
pot.  His  conscience  "troubles"  him,  as  a  rule, 
though  if  this  same  informer  had  his  hatches  off 
there  would  be  few  to  care  to  look  at  his  cargo. 
Yet  his  allusions  to  the  doings  of  others  are  always 
glove-fitting  and  generally  as  substantial  as  an 
echo. 

As  the  drummer  said  to  his  friend,  so  it  may 
be  said  of  the  informer,  "He  was  kind  of  lonely 

487 


488  DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

unless  he  romanced."  The  Government  realizes 
this  as  thoroughly  as  possible.  Still,  believing  in 
the  old  saw  that  a  low  opinion  of  a  rogue's  ability 
is  sometimes  greatly  to  his  advantage,  the  chief 
officials  in  Washington  demand  that  all  letters, 
anom^mous  or  otherwise,  be  investigated. 

I  know  from  experience  how  fruitless  the  major 
portion  of  this  "information"  is,  and  I  also  know 
that  it  makes  poor  fare  and  hollow  cheeks  for 
those  who  hope  to  profit  by  it.  It  is  only  necessary 
to  cite  several  recent  cases  to  demonstrate  the 
worthlessness  of  the  "tips"  furnished  by  the  aver- 
age informer. 

In  1898,  Major  Williams,  special  agent  in  charge 
of  Paris  and  several  other  important  points  in 
Europe,  sent  a  report  to  the  department  that  upon 
the  arrival  in  Hoboken  of  the  steamer  Pretoria 
from  Hamburg  would  be  found  two  casks  alleged 
to  contain  brandy.  The  information  which  I  after- 
wards got  orally  from  Major  Williams  was  this : 

He  had  been  informed  that  a  conspiracy  was  on 
foot  to  bring  into  the  Port  of  New  York  a  large 
assortment  of  jewelry  mounted  in  magnificent  set- 
tings. He  said  that  he  had  put  a  good  man  on  the 
case,  and  this  official,  who  was  not  a  Government 
employee,  however,  had  reported  to  him  that  he 
had  learned  that  a  cooper  was  building  to  order 
for  a  well-known  diamond  exporter  of  Amsterdam 
two  casks  of  peculiar  construction. 

The  detective  told  Major  Williams  that  he  had 


INFORMERS  ARE  DANGEROUS   489 

seen  the  casks  delivered  to  the  diamond  exporter's 
house;  that  a  few  days  following  this  the  casks 
were  taken  from  the  house  by  an  individual,  whose 
name  was  mentioned,  and  delivered  at  the  railroad 
station.  The  casks  were  jDlaced  in  the  luggage  van 
and  the  train  started  for  Hamburg,  the  officer  fol- 
lowing by  the  same  route. 

The  detective  saw  the  casks  taken  from  the  van 
and  placed  in  the  hold  of  the  ship,  the  associate 
of  the  diamond  exporter  shortly  afterwards  de- 
parting upon  the  train  returning  to  Amsterdam. 
The  officer  remained  until  the  Pretoria  started  for 
America. 

A  cablegram  to  Washington  put  the  officials 
there  on  their  guard,  and  I,  with  several  other  offi- 
cers of  the  Government,  was  instructed  to  make 
an  investigation.  Under  the  treaty  between  the 
United  States  and  Germany  it  is  specified  that  no 
officer  of  the  Government  has  the  authority  to 
search  a  German  ship  without  a  special  permit 
granted  by  the  German  consul  at  whatever  port 
the  craft  arrives.  We  had  no  trouble  in  getting 
this  consent. 

Five  men  searched  every  part  of  the  Pretoria 
from  keelson  to  sun  deck.  The  examination  of  the 
officers',  stewards'  and  passengers'  rooms  was 
very  exhaustive,  as  was  also  that  of  the  quarters 
occupied  by  the  sailors  and  stokers.  We  then 
went  among  the  engines,  had  the  boilers  examined 
and  thoroughly  looked  into  the  coal  bunkers.    It 


490   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

took  two  entire  days  to  make  the  seareli,  and  we 
had  abandoned  all  hope  when,  finally,  in  a  little 
compartment  in  the  fore  peak  of  the  vessel,  used 
as  a  store  place  for  spare  sails,  we  found  two 
casks. 

We  had  been  informed  by  cable  that  when  the 
two  casks  were  brought  to  the  diamond  exporter's 
house  in  Amsterdam  the  numbers  24  and  42  were 
marked  on  either  cask  in  white  letters.  When  we 
hauled  out  from  the  bows  of  the  Pretoria  the  two 
casks  found  there  the  numerals  24  and  42  were 
seen  on  them.  We  thereupon  demanded  an  expla- 
nation of  the  chief  officer,  and  this  is  what  he  said, 
in  plain  English: 

''Scharlie,  von  of  the  Stewarts,  he  vas  going  to 
celebrate  his  wedding  anniversary  on  the  ship,  and 
he  asks  permission  to  haf  a  liddle  beer  unt  board 
to  take  width  him  to  treat  his  fellow-countrymans. 
Und  the  other  cask  belonged  to  Fritz,  who  vanted 
to  celebrate  the  anniversary  of  his  vife's  birth,  or 
something,  or  perhaps  it  vas  her  death.  There 
vas  nothing  wrong  about  them  casks." 

An  axe  w^as  brought  forward  by  order  of  the 
master  of  the  shij)  and  we  broke  the  casks  into 
staves.  They  were  perfectly  empty,  and  if  they 
ever  contained  beer,  they  were  pretty  dry  when 
we  demolished  them.  The  man  who  gave  the  infor- 
mation evidently  concocted  the  story  out  of  whole 
cloth.  He  probably  conceived  the  yarn  as  a  joke 
upon  the  officers  of  the  ship.     We  all  felt  very 


INFORMERS  ARE  DANGEROUS   491 

sheepish  as  we  left  the  Pretoria,  and  I  could  not 
heli3  thinking  of  Kipling  and  his  friend  Mulvaney, 
who  said,  "  'Tis  not  for  me  to  interfere  wid  your 
a-moors." 

On  another  occasion  I  was  given  the  following 
case  to  investigate.  On  one  of  the  French  Line 
steamers  there  would  be  found  a  large  consign- 
ment of  Dutch  cheeses  and  that  in  the  cheese  con- 
tained in  case  No.  1774  was  secreted  a  large  col- 
lection of  big  diamonds. 

There  was  no  great  trouble  finding  the  case  des- 
ignated, and  as  there  was  quite  an  army  of  exam- 
iners on  the  pier  I  borrowed  one  of  the  knives  used 
for  samjDling  and  cut  this  particular  cheese  into 
thin  slices.  The  result  was  that  we  had  to  destroy 
the  best  part  of  the  consignment  to  make  doubly 
certain  that  everything  was  regular  and  that  no 
mistake  had  been  made  in  cabling  the  case  number. 

AYe  found  neither  diamonds  nor  anything  else 
that  was  precious,  but  the  Government  had  to  re- 
imburse the  owners  of  the  Dutch  importation.  As 
for  the  man  who  gave  the  **  information "  to  the 
Government,  he  must  be  either  suffering  from 
mental  myopia,  or  was  simply  a  hopeless,  incor- 
rigible and  unmitigated  story-teller.  I  am  inclined 
to  the  latter  opinion. 

Some  "tourists"  will  betray  their  best  friends 
for  the  sake  of  a  little  gain.  I  recall  an  instance 
which  occurred  in  1898.  There  was  an  undersized 
chap  named  Jacobs,  who  came  over  in  the  steerage 


492   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

of  one  of  the  Hamburg  boats.  I  had  seen  him  in 
Antwerp  several  times  and  knew  he  was  doing 
business  for  a  brother-in-law  who  was  a  diamond- 
cutter  in  that  city.  It  was  about  the  time  that  con- 
siderable attention  was  being  paid  to  the  coming 
and  going  of  steerage  passengers,  because  the  be- 
lief prevailed  that  it  was  through  this  channel  that 
many  smugglers  used  to  travel. 

Jacobs  recognized  me  as  he  stepped  from  the 
ship,  and  I  called  him  over  to  where  I  was  stand- 
ing.   I  said  to  him: 

"I  want  you  to  give  me  the  jewelry  and  dia- 
monds you  have  with  you. ' ' 

I  had  not  the  remotest  idea  that  he  was  bringing 
anything  unlawfully  into  this  country.  It  was  a 
mere  guess  on  my  part.  He  nearly  struck  me  dumb 
with  astonishment  when  he  pulled  from  his  pocket 
a  package  of  pearls,  which  were  immediately  con- 
fiscated and  subsequently  sold. 

I  thought  I  was  through  with  Jacobs,  but  he 
called  at  my  home  on  January  17,  1901,  and  said 
that  he  desired  to  lodge  information  against  a 
friend  who  was  then  coming  to  the  country  in  the 
steamer  Campania.  He  told  me  that  the  man's 
name  was  Joseph,  that  he  was  one  of  his  best 
friends,  but  that  he  wanted  to  make  some  money, 
and  that,  while  it  was  rough  for  Joseph,  it  was 
still  a  business  opportunity  that  he  did  not  care 
to  lose. 

This  he  told  me  as  easily  as  molasses  flows  from 


INFORMERS  ARE  DANGEROUS   493 

a  spigot  on  a  warm  day  in  summer.  He  added  that 
he  was  leading  an  honest  life  and  that  in  future 
he  wanted  to  be  respectable.  I  never  appreciated 
the  wisdom  of  the  line,  ''Ignominy  thirsts  for  re- 
spect," so  thoroughly  as  then.  I  felt  like  kicking 
him  down  the  steps,  but  I  had  to  do  my  duty,  and 
while  I  realized  that  his  visit  was  as  indigestible 
as  a  doctor's  bill  after  the  death  of  his  patient,  I 
had  him  make  a  statement  in  writing. 

I  gathered  in  Joseph  when  he  came  along,  and 
took  Jacobs  in  charge,  too,  for  safekeeping.  We 
made  a  complete  search  of  both  men,  but  nothing 
dutiable  was  found.  To  this  day  I  cannot  under- 
stand how  a  man  even  of  the  character  of  Jacobs 
could  attempt  to  deceive  his  best  friend.  In  this 
case  Jacobs  did  not  receive  any  reward  and  he  lost 
his  friend.  I  can  only  attribute  his  conduct  to  the 
love  of  gain.  I  know  he  was  as  greedy  as  a  Rio 
shark  and  less  merciful. 

I  had  no  doubt,  however,  that  Jacobs  knew 
whereof  he  spoke  when  he  proclaimed  that  Joseph 
was  a  smuggler.  Joseph  had  told  me  that  he  was 
not,  that  he  was  an  honest  man ;  but,  as  I  had  had 
my  experiences  with  honestly  dishonest  people,  I 
looked  upon  what  he  said  as  mere  chaff.  To  me 
his  promises  were  as  valuable  as  an  eggshell,  and 
I  instinctively  felt  that  his  soul  could  find  ample 
space  in  a  nutshell. 

It  was  because  of  these  convictions  that  I  sent 
to  Europe  a  description  of  the  man  when,  shortly 


494   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

after,  he  returned  to  that  side.  I  felt  satisfied  that 
his  trip  here  was  an  initiative  one  and  that  he 
fully  intended  to  return  here,  and  no  doubt  bring 
with  him  an  importation  of  diamonds  which  he 
would  not  legally  declare.  ^Tien  he  returned  to 
Liverpool  he  was  shadowed  from  that  city  to  Ant- 
werp, thence  to  Paris,  back  to  Antwerp  and  agaili 
to  Paris. 

In  the  French  capital  the  agent  who  was  follow- 
ing Joseph  was  taken  ill  with  tj^i^hoid  fever,  and 
before  another  agent  could  arrive  upon  the  scene 
to  relieve  him  Joseph  had  disappeared,  but  not 
until  a  number  of  valuable  photographs  of  him 
were  taken  by  the  agent  and  sent  to  this  country 
to  show  that  the  right  man  had  been  located  and 
jDhotographed  without  his  knowledge.  Joseph  will 
come  along  again,  I  imagine.  Men  of  his  calibre 
usually  become  more  courageous  and  less  cautious. 
Uncle  Sam  never  sleeps. 


THE  ANONYMOUS  LETTER- WEITER 

There  is  an  unwritten  law  in  the  history  of  civ- 
ilization that  no  attention  should  be  paid  to  anony- 
mous letter-writers.  The  average  business  man 
makes  short  work  of  such  correspondence.  When 
he  receives  a  communication  signed  "Justice"  or 
''Friend,"  or  some  other  equally  transparent  cor- 
respondence, warning  him  not  to  do  this  or  that 
or  something  else,  he  usually  consigns  the  worth- 
less and  generally  illegible  ''document"  to  the  con- 
fines of  a  convenient  waste-paper  basket. 

The  Government  invariably  pays  attention  to 
any  anonymous  letters  that  it  receives,  and  in  the 
case  of  the  Treasury  Department  these  come  by 
the  dozens  every  business  day.  All  of  the  letters 
are  "investigated,"  and  while  in  every  ninety-nine 
times  out  of  the  hundred  nothing  comes  of  them, 
yet  they  are  made  the  subjects  of  exhaustive  in- 
quiries both  here  and  in  Washington. 

The  majority  of  the  letters  touch  upon  smug- 
glers and  offer  a  wide  scope  to  the  imagination. 
Some  might  be  considered  quite  ludicrous  if  they 
were  not  so  seriously  offered.  Among  those  in  the 
service  it  is  pretty  generally  known  by  whom  many 

495 


496   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

of  the  letters  are  prepared  and  the  purpose  in 
sending  them  to  the  authorities.  In  the  majority 
of  cases  the  desire  is  revenge,  but  not  a  few  are 
intended  as  a  means  for  a  reward. 

Partners  who  have  quarreled  have  been  known 
to  inform  the  Government  of  each  other's  weak- 
nesses. Wives  have  "peached"  ujDon  their  hus- 
bands because  they  suspected  them  of  wrongdoing. 
A  clerg;yTnan,  high  up  in  the  circles  of  the  church, 
wrote  an  anonymous  letter  charging  a  pillar  of  his 
church  with  being  a  professional  smuggler.  There 
was  not  a  word  of  truth  in  the  statement,  and  the 
minister  afterwards  admitted  that  he  made  the 
accusation  because  the  business  man  had  criticised 
one  of  his  sermons.  Business  rivals,  however,  in- 
dite the  bulk  of  the  "warnings"  that  are  sent  in 
pen-and-ink  sketches  to  the  Treasury  Department. 
Here  is  one  letter  that  occupied  the  attention  of 
five  Treasury  officials  for  six  months : 

Sept.  10,  1900. 
To  Whom  It  May  Concern: 

To-morrow  the  steamer  Kensington,  of  the  "Red  Star  line," 
will  arrive  in  New  York  from  Antwerp.  Sailed  Sept.  1st 
There  is  on  board  a  man  by  the  name  of  Max  Carleton,  a 
Jew,  who  may  now  travel  under  an  assumed  name,  as  Carlton 
is  also  an  "alias."  He  is  about  35  years  of  age,  stout  build, 
medium  height,  dark  eyes  and  hair,  smooth,  fat,  round  face. 
When  he  left  New  York  was  not  wearing  mustache  nor  beard 
of  any  kind,  but  he  may  have  grown  one  since.     Used  to  hang 

around  the Hotel,  where,  perhaps,  he  may  be  known.     He 

went  to  Europe,  to  buy  a  lot  of  diamonds  which  he  intends  to 
smuggle  in.    Is  clever,  shrewd  and  tricky. 

Look  out 


ANONYMOUS  LETTER-WRITER      497 

With  the  exception  that  a  man  described  as 
above  came  in  the  Kensington  as  a  passenger, 
there  was  not  an  iota  of  truth  in  the  letter,  but  it 
took  much  time  and  money  to  discover  that  fact. 

Equally  shallow  was  the  following  "inside"  in- 
formation which  an  amateur  Sherlock  Holmes  sup- 
plied : 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  8,  1899. 
Mr.  W.  H.  Theobald, 

Care  of  Geo.  R.  Bidwell,  Esq., 

Collector  of  the  Port  of  New  York, 
Custom  House,  New  York  City. 
Dear  Sir: 

A  few  days  ago  I  came  to  overhear  a  conversation  between 
two  men,  one  of  which  was  a  neatly  dressed  Russian  Hebrew 
emigrant. 

The  latter  boasted  of  having  brought  over  to  this  country, 
three  or  four  weeks  ago,  a  considerable  quantity  of  jewelry 
(diamond  rings,  watches,  pearl-set  chains,  and  last,  not  least, 
four  thousand  carats  of  unset  diamonds),  and  to  have  paid 
duty  but  on  a  very  small  part  of  it. 

On  hearing  this,  I  resolved  not  to  lose  sight  of  the  man  and 
to  follow  him  up.  As  a  result  of  my  subsequent  tedious  and 
sagacious  investigations  I  have  since  found  out  the  following: 

1.  The  man's  name  is  " ." 

2.  He  landed  3  or  4  weeks  ago  in  the  Harbor  of  New  York 
(by  what  line  of  steamers  I  could  not  find  out). 

3.  After  having  for  some  time  lived  private  in  Delancy 
Street,  and  being  robbed  there  of  1,000  roubles  and  some  jew- 
elry, he  moved  to  a  hotel  in  Grand  Street,  N.  Y.  City. 

4.  He  carries  considerable  jewelry  on  his  person  (in  a 
leather  wallet),  offering  it  for  sale  on  any  suitable  occasion. 

5.  He  has  considerable  jewelry  at  home. 

6.  But  the  main  part  of  his  importation,  the  4,000  carats  of 

unset  diamonds,  are  stored  in  the Bank,  Grand   Street 

(East  Side),  where  they  emptied  a  whole  safe  for  him,  and 
where  he  goes  in  and  out  all  day. 

Having  acquired  knowledge  of  all  these  facts,  I  fulfill  my 
duty  as  a  citizen  of  this  community  by  giving  you,  as  the 


498   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

proper  authority,  hereby  information  of  my  discovery  for  fur- 
ther action. 

I  desire  my  name  be  Itept  secret  and  to  receive  the  full  bene- 
fit of  such  reward  as  may  be  provided  by  law  or  any  Custom 
House  regulation  for  such  information. 

Very  truly  yours. 

Until  Nov.  30th  at Street. 

Thereafter  at Street. 

The  subjoined  is  the  contribution  of  a  heart- 
broken wife  who  was  deserted  by  her  husband. 
This  letter,  like  all  the  others,  is  reproduced  with- 
out any  corrections  or  changes  in  construction. 
The  letter  says : 

Amsterdam,  April  18,  1899. 
Mr.  Wm.  H.  Theobald. 

Custom  House,  New  York. 
Dear  Sir: 

This  is  to  advise  you  that  Mr. and  his  mis- 
tress, Mademoiselle ,  a  French  actress,  will  sail  for 

New  York  in  a  few  days,  either  by  the  Lucania  or  the  French 

Line.    I  suppose  Mr. will  have  some  contraband  diamonds. 

and  trust  that  a  careful  search  on  both  of  them  will  be  re- 
warded. Don't  forget  to  look  in  the  trunks  or  valises;  the 
stones  may  be  concealed  in  the  side  pieces  which  carry  the 
loose  frames.  One  Who  Knows. 

This  is  a  protest  from  a  professional  ocean  trav- 
eler who  had  to  pay  biff  duties  on  frocks  and  frills 
which  she  brought  in  without  making  any  declara- 
tion.   She  says: 

Mr.  Theobald,  United  States  Barge  Office,  New  York: 

You  are  a  mean  man.     You  took  everything  From  me,  and 

there  is  &  of  No.  —  West Street  that  brought 

in  Forty  dresses  and  paid  no  duties.    Nab  them.     . 

The  "Honest  Citizen"  and  "Patriotic  Ameri- 


ANONYMOUS  LETTER-WRITER      499 

can"  are  star  performers  in  the  writing  of  these 
letters,  and  one  of  these  patriots  became  so  dis- 
gusted with  a  smuggler  that  he  wrote  the  follow- 
ing instructive  letter  to  Uncle  Billy : 

Antwebp,  3,  8,  '99. 
W.  H.  Theobald, 

Costum  House,  New  York.  , 

Via  England. 

N.  Y.  North  America. 

On  board  of  the  Red  Star  Steamer  Kensington  is  a  person 
on  board  with  some  bottles  with  Essence  to  make  some  liquor 

in   America,   his   name   is  or   the  ,   something   like 

that  he  come  from  Beveran  waas  Belgium  and  is  going  to 
Seattle,  Wash.    He  like  to  smuggle  that  stof,  for  a  person  from 

Seattle  by  name ,  that  person  make  some  liquor 

himself  without  to  pay  license  for  it,  that  person  Mr.  is 

a  saloonkeeper  in  Seattle,  and  make  all  different  drinks  in 
liquor  without  to  pay  license.  When  some  people  come  to 
America  they  bring  some  stof  along  for  him  to  make  it. 

Yours  truly, 

ONE  America  N. 

The  writer  of  the  next  letter  must  have  gone  to 
the  same  school  that  "one  American"  graduated 
from.    He  has  this  to  say  about  a  neighbor : 

New  York,  7,  19,  1900. 
Mr.  Wm.  H.  Theobald, 

Dear  Sir:     I  think  it  is  my  duty  to  inform  you,  that  the 

Violinmaker  Mr.  of  Third   Avenue  near   55555    (55th?) 

Street,  Manhattan  went  to  Germany  to  buy  some  old  valuable 
Italian  Violins  and  other  musical  instruments.  He  will  with 
the  help  of  the  stuarts  try  to  get  them  in  without  paying  duty. 
He  did  the  same  last  year  when  his  wife  was  in  Germany.  She 
brought  several  old  Violins  along  without  paying  duty.  Most 
of  his  Stock  he  gets  this  way,  as  a  part  of  the  Stuarts  are 
musicians  and  he  is  well  acquainted  with  them.  Chances  are 
that  he  himself  went  as  Stuart  to  save  expenses.  I  hope  this 
information  will  help  you.  A  Businessman. 


500   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

The  next  letter  is  from  a  journalist  of  the  old 
French  school,  who  wanted  to  do  some  traveling 
at  the  expense  of  the  solid  taxpayers  of  the  United 
States,  but  the  authorities  did  not  i^lace  much  faith 
in  his  promises.  In  his  two  letters  the  journalist 
remarks  : 

Dear  Sir: 

I  enclose  you  an  envelope  with  my  address.  Send  me  your 
answer  as  soon  as  possible  this  afternoon.  I  will  get  it  in 
Nyack  to-night  or  to-morrow  morning  and  will  immediately 
come  to  New  York  to  see  you. 

To  deliver  you  this  gang  which  rob  United  States  of  thou- 
sands of  dollars  each  year.  I  only  want  two  things.  1st.  My 
ticket  to  Montreal  and  back.  2nd.  My  passage  to  Europe  by 
way  of  the  Azores  Isles.  I  do  not  want  money.  You  will  pay 
me  tclieii  the  gang  is  in  your  hands.  You  will  get  it  this  after- 
noon. Do  not  fail  to  send  me  your  answer  quickly.  If  you 
do  so  I  will  have  the  gang  in  your  hands  in  4  weeks.  They 
are  2  men  and  1  woman  and  they  smuggle  by  ways  you  are 
not  at  all  suspicious.  Truly  yours, 

The  following  is  by  the  same  writer  as  above : 

New  York,  26th  September,  1900. 
Dear  Sir: 

I  would  like  to  have  an  interview  with  you  about  smuggling 
jewellery  here.  I  am  up  to  a  scheme  which,  when  found  out, 
will  prove  you  that  I  can  be  of  great  utility  to  you.  I  am 
French — 31  j'ears  and  about  6  months  here  in  United  States. 
Since  1894  I  have  come  here  about  twice  a  year  and  am  thor- 
oughly acquainted  with  United  States,  knowing  it  from  New 
York  to  Rocky  Mountains  and  from  New  Orleans  1o  Duluth. 
My  last  travel  I  went  back  from  New  York  to  Paris  in  March. 
I  found  my  clue  when  I  was  in  Paris  in  June.  I  came  back 
here  in  July  and  I  have  in  view  a  gang  which  have  extraor- 
dinary successful.  Now  I  propose  to  enter  your  service,  I 
do  not  ask  to  be  paid.  The  only  thing  I  ask  is  to  have  free 
transportation  when  I  am  in  United  States  and  free  trans- 


ANONYMOUS  LETTER- WRITER      501 

portation  on  the  Ocean  steamers — that's  all — you  will  pay  me 
when  the  smugglers  are  caught.  I  speak  and  write  the  Span- 
ish language  thoroughly  that's  how  I  came  on  to  find  out  that 
smuggling  scheme.  Now  I  will  tell  you  that  I  come  here  twice 
a  year  for  two  things.  1st.  I  am  a  journalist.  I  write  on 
International  politics  in  the  French  newspapers — I  wrute  too 
the  Spirit  of  Times  on  the  French  running  and  trotting  races. 
2nd.  I  buy  here  trotters  to  export  to  Europe.  I  have  done 
these  two  business  for  6  years.  I  am  waiting  to  see  if  I  can 
see  you.  Yours  truly, 

(Signed) . 

The  would-be  informer,  who  is  a  true-blooded 
American,  and  who  knows  the  English  language 
only  as  a  landlubber  knows  the  ship 's  ropes,  is  the 
author  of  this  important  document : 

Sir:  I  am  araerican  Citizen  and  I  will  do  not  the  other 
Stranges  peoples  Cheat  us  My  duty  Me  oblige  to  let  you  know 
which  Cheater  the  U.  S.  by  Secret  Contraband  the  man  is  it 
cne  Syrien  have  one  store and  one  other  store  in  Mon- 
treal Canada.  This  man  make  her  Business  in  this  Way.  he 
order  her  goods  to  come  from  Paris  france  to  Montreal  Can- 
ada and  ther  he  pay  duty  Very  Cheap  and  then  he  express  her 
goods  to  the  boarderings  of  the  untied  States  and  then  he 
took  the  Said  goods  and  giving  to  the  Cariage  Man  and  the 
Cariag  Man  in  the  nighte  time  he  Carry  them  With  other  dif- 
ferent things  eggs  and  other  things  lik  that  in  many  Barrel 
and  the  goods  Mixed  With  Them  So  the  goods  entre  in  united 
States  in  the  Way  of  the  desert. 

respectfully  yours  truly, 

AMERICAN  Brother  in  land. 

Another  honest  citizen  who  could  not  bear  to 
see  the  Government  robbed  was  responsible  for 
the  following  communication  : 

New  York,  July  17,  1900. 
Mr.  Wm.  H.  Theobald, 

Sir:    I  beg  to  let  you  know  that  a  man  by  the  name  of  — — 


502   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

something  as  a  steward  or  chief  waiter  or  an  employe  for  the 

steerage  passengers  on  board  the  French  steamer  will 

arrived  next  Sunday.  If  you  observe  the  man  you  will  have 
the  better  case  of  smuggling  ever  known  in  the  United  States 
in  regard  to  jewellery,  diamonds  and  everything.  It  may  be 
that  the  man  does  not  desembark  the  day  of  his  arrival  the 
said  things  as  he  is  rather  clever  or  used  the  service  of  an 
accomplice  woman  now  in  New  York  who  will  visit  him  on 
board,  or  a  man.  The  man  is  about  40  years  old  and  known 
on  the  pier  42.  A   Good  Citizen. 

The  next  letter  was  sent  to  the  Government 
through  a  special  messenger,  who  made  a  journey 
of  several  hundred  miles  to  see  that  it  fell  into 
proper  hands.  It  was  written  on  church  paper, 
and  says : 

Mr.  ,  of  Omaha.     In  Europe  buying  Diamonds  has  his 

ladies  friends  from  Omaha  bring  them  through  the  costum 
expected  back  latter  part  September  from  hamburgh  likely 
will  have  Mrs. from  Omaha  bring  them.  Justice. 

It  does  not  require  the  services  of  a  mind-reader 
to  discover  the  purpose  of  the  next  letter.  It  was 
written  by  a  woman,  and  told  as  plainly  as  though 
stamped  across  its  face  that  the  author  had  at 
least  a  speaking  acquaintance  with  "the  legiti- 
mate wife  and  three  children"  mentioned  in  the 
communication,  which  is  here  attached : 

Superintendent  of  Custom  House: 

Very  important  to  read  for  the  Officials  of  the  Custom  House. 

Allow  me  to  call  your  attention  to  the  arrival  here  of  one 

Mr. ,  calling  himself  Brown  also: — who  lived  lately 

in  London  No. .    This  man  in  arriving  was  the  bearer 

of  a  quantity  of  smuggled  jewels  and  diamonds.  In  fact  he 
had  gone  to  Europe  with  the  avowed  object  of  smuggling 
goods  on  his  return. 


ANONYMOUS  LETTER-WRITER      503 

Ttfe  man  is  a  Swindler  and  a  cunning  Scoundrel  speaking 
all  languages  but  born  in  Germany.  He  came  in  this  country 
for  the  first  time  about  3  years  ago,  with  a  woman  of  bad 
repute  for  which  he  has  left  his  own  legitimate  wife  and  three 
children  in  the  most  abject  misery  in  Belgium.    He  has  lived 

here  about  two  years  in  New  York  at where  the 

woman  he  was  living  with  was  shunned  by  all  honest  people. 

She  calls  herself  by  the  name  of .   This  man  has  then 

gone  to  Europe  with  the  purpose  of  bringing  back  here  another 
poor  woman  to  be  delivered  to  a  life  of  shame  and  live  him- 
self by  that  shameful  trade,  and  in  the  same  time  to  smuggle 
in  all  he  could.  He  has  arrived  here  Thursday  the  21st  inst. 
coming  probably  from  London  but  he  had  sojourned  before 
that  at  Brussels  and  Paris.  He  bragged  in  arriving  here  to 
have  well  succeeded  on  either  side  of  the  Ocean.  I  cannot 
give  his  exact  address  but  he  can  be  found  frequently  at  a 

man  named  , .     This  latter  man  being 

his  best  friend  and  also  a  Jeweler  of  his  trade.  These  two 
individuals  should  be  watched  for  many  reasons,  those  espe- 
cially concerning  the  Customs  House.  There  are  many  jewels 
yet  in  their  possession.  Accept  my  salutations.  P.  S. — If  later 
I  find  out  the  address  of  the  man  I  will  communicate  it  to  you. 

Nor  is  there  much  mystery  as  to  the  identity  of 
the  writer  of  the  following,  which  shows  in  every 
line  of  it  the  spite  of  a  business  rival : 

St.  Olyshouse,  Canada,  Oct.  30th,  1899. 
Customs  Officials, 

New  York. 
Dear  Sir: 

Hereby  I  let  you  know  that  Mr. of has  gone 

to  Belgium,  to  buy  goods  for  himself,  and  his  brothers,  who 
are  tailors,  to  buy  goods  and  defraud  the  Government  of  Du- 
ties by  hiding  said  goods  in  coarse  sacks,  which  themselves 
would  be  enveloped  in  worthless  bed  blankets,  passing  thus 
as  undutiable  bedding  goods.  For  the  last  three  years,  they 
have  thus  imported  more  than  $500  worth  of  material  and  did 
not  pay  a  cent  of  Duties  and  not  even  the  freight,  as  they 
were  many  and  divided  the  baggage  in  such  a  way  that  no 
attention  was  paid  to  them  by  the  Customs  officials  (the  same 
being  concealed  in  bed   spread,  while  inside  valuable  goods 


504   DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

were  hidden.  Moreover,  the  parties  above  mentioned,  are  in- 
ducing travellers  taking  the  same  route  to  help  them  uncon- 
sciously by  assuming  the  ownership  of  such  "Goods  Stuffed"  cov- 
erlids, which,  after  passing  the  Customs,  unnoticed  are  turned 
over  to  the  smugglers.  These  smuggled  goods  are  so  well  ar- 
ranged that  it  is  difficult  to  detect  the  fraud,  unless  warned. 
The  above  mentioned  party  has  started  for  Belgium,  about 
the  middle  of  October  to  buy  about  one  thousand  dollars' 
worth  of  goods  and  has  a  return  ticket,  which  implies  that 
he  intends  to  return  shortly.  Besides  he  receives  a  dollar  a 
day  from  a  Cattle  dealer  to  feed  the  animals  on  board  (which 
is  no  doubt  a  blind).  He  may  return  immediately,  or  may 
delay  a  few  months.  He  is  a  short  man,  about  30  years  of 
age.  He  has  the  intention  to  continue  smuggling,  if  success 
attend  his  ventures,  and  to  enlarge  upon  the  business.  He 
and  his  brothers  are  now  selling  goods  under  cost.  I  hope 
you  will  do  your  best  to  Seize  the  coming  goods,  and  notify 
the  other  Custom  Houses,  where  the  goods  might  be  smuggled 
in,  as  I  am  not  certain  which  way  he  may  come  back. 

Yours  truly. 


A  reputable  druggist  sent  the  subjoined  letter 
and  afterwards  told  the  officials  that  the  man  in 
question  used  to  make  forty  thousand  dollars  a 
year  bringing  stuff  unlawfully  into  the  country. 
When  asked  to  go  on  the  stand  and  testify  in  the 
event  of  the  man's  arrest  he  refused  to  do  so.  The 
letter  reads : 

Mr.  Wii.ltam  Theohald. 

Care  Custom  House,  New  York. 
Dear  Sir: 

A  Hebrew  named  that  has  gone  abroad  on  a  regular 

trip  to  buy  contraband  goods  in  Europe. 

The  goods  will  probably  be  taken  into  port  in  disf/uise.  They 
are  rubber  goods.  They  will  come  in  the  shape  of  candies, 
cigarettes,  or  perhaps  of  some  new  devise  to  fool  the  Customs 
officers. 

Watch  for  him  in  about  5 — 6  weeks.     He  will  then  return. 


ANONYMOUS  LETTER- WRITER      505 

Mr.  B.  the  good  friend  of  his,  does  the  dirty  work  of  helping 
him  smuggle  in  the  goods  in  some  strange  guise.  An  ap- 
praiser must  be  involved  to  get  them  through,  as  their  false 
invoices  are  notorious.  Look  out  for  B.'s  work.  He  may  clear 
goods  for  him  before  he  returns  himself.  Certainly  look  out 
for  any  goods  consigned  to 

Avenue,  Druggist. 

either  his  name  or  his  address,  as  they  may  be  consigned  to 
a  fictitious  name.  I  think  he  has  left  here  on  the  Steamer 
"Grosser  Kurfirst." 

Confidentially  yours. 


The  four  letters  which  follow  are  more  to  the 
point,  and  in  each  instance  are  known  to  have  been 
written  by  those  who  were  financially  hurt  by  the 
persons  of  whom  they  complained.  The  letters 
are  given  without  further  introduction : 


Rotterdam,  June  26,  1900. 
William  H.  Theobald,  Esq., 

New  York  Custom  House,  New  York. 
Dear  Sir: 

I  must  call  your  attention  to  the  following  facts,  that  the 

house  of &  Sons  of  Rotterdam  sends  chemical  scales  and 

balances  to  Messrs.  &  Co.,  Ltd.,  No.  —  East  Street, 

New  York,  that  they  enclose  insides  the  glass  balance  cases 

diamonds,  that  they   sent  with  last  steamer   named  11 

cases,  marked 

Note. —  (Here   is   drawn   a   diagram   showing   the   style    of 
marking.) 

Containing  Chemical  Balances  and  weights  that  somewheres 
must  be  enclosed  a  couple  of  Brazilian  diamonds  in  a  small 
paper  box  it  will  be  well  for  you  to  investigate  this  business 
thoroughly  formerly  they  have  packed  them  along  with  Riders 
in  a  paper  box  also  insides  the  slides  of  the  Mahogany  cases 
where  the  windows  go  up.  The  value  of  the  diamonds  is  Fl. 
323,40  fiorins.  Anonymous. 


506    DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

New  York,  June  27th.  1900. 
Mr.  W.Ar.  H.  Theorai.d. 

New  York. 
Dear  Sir: 

I  will  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  a  party  of  ladies' 
tailors  left  for  Paris  on  the  Auguste  Victoria,  the  2l3t  inst. 
with  the  intention  to  import  Triraminfjs  for  Dress  Makers' 
purposes  and  also  Jewels.  They  have  taken  their  wives  with 
them  for  that  purpose.  As  a  citizen  of  the  U.  .S'.,  I  will  call 
jour  attention  again  to  keep  a  close  watch  on  these  people 
as  they  will  return  the  latter  part  of  August  with  the  same 
Steamer  Auguste  Victoria.  The  name  of  the  Ladies'  Tailors 
are  as  follows: 

(Here  is  given  a  list  of  five  well-known  ladies'  tailors.) 
Yours  very  respectfully. 

This  letter  is  sent  from . 


Mr.  Wu.  H.  Theobald,  New  York,  July  10,  1900. 

New  York  City. 
Dear  Sir: 

I  will  call  your  attention  that  a  small  store  does  business  in 

diamonds  under  the  name  of Bros.,  at  No. Avenue, 

and  their  business  consists  in  smuggling  Diamonds  from  Eu- 
roi)e  to  this  country,  being  an  American  citizen  and  believe 
that  this  kind  of  transaction  ruins  other  business  men,  I  call 
your  attention,  to  the  fact  that  one  of  these  brothers,  Mr.  John 

went  abroad  with  a  family  of  the  name  of ,  with  the 

intention  of  smuggling  $50,000  worth  of  diamonds. 

Trusting  you  will  give  this  your  attention,  I  remain. 

Respectfully, 

P.  S. — The  cities  they  will  visit  is  Paris  Antwerp,  and  to 
allude  the  Custom  House  here,  they  may  return  through 
Canada. 


Sir:  Mr.  and  Mr.  are  in  this  city  with  the  Hope 

Collection  of  paintings,  purchased  by  them  in  England.  They 
have  been  bought  at  very  low  prices,  and  entered  in  the  Cus- 
tom House  very  low.  In  that  way,  they  will  defraud  the  U.  S. 
Government  of  considerable  duties.  If  you  will  look  into  this 
matter,  you  will  find  much  truth  in  it. 

Yours  resp'y,  One  Who  Know.s. 


ANONYMOUS  LETTER-WRITER      507 

It  must  not  be  inferred  from  the  above  batch 
of  correspondence  that  everybody  who  writes  to 
the  department  or  to  the  Custom  House  is  abso- 
hitely  reliable  as  to  facts.  The  number  of  letters 
that  come  from  persons  of  peculiar  ideas  and 
minds  are  many.  Here  is  a  sample  from  Colorado : 

Denver,  Col.,  Nov.  13,  1900. 
Mr.  Theobald, 

Special  Treasury  Agent, 

New  York  City. 
Dear  Sir: 

The  diamonds  belonging  to  the  Maximilian  and  Carlotta 
crown  and  necklace,  etc.,  belong  to  me.  I  am  Sherman's 
daughter  of  the  (War  history)  of  1860 — and  I  am  to-day  as 
I  was  then,  the  President  of  the  United  States.  Preserve  those 
diamonds  as  the  government  owes  me  something  for  past 
impertinence.  Yours  very  truly, 

Miss  M.  E.  K., 

Post  Office  Box  , 

Denver,  Colorado. 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

During  September  of  1901  an  old  lady,  very 
neatly  attired  and,  from  all  appearances,  quite 
respectable,  called  at  the  Custom  House  and 
showed  me  a  letter  signed  by  one  of  our  deputy 
collectors  who  held  office  in  1861,  recommending 
her  to  the  Appraiser  of  the  Port.  This  old  lady 
wrote  fully  fifty  letters  and  mailed  them  to  me 
within  the  first  month  after  we  met.  In  the  ma- 
jority of  them  she  called  my  attention  to  the  claim 
that  she  had  in  her  possession  a  number  of  letters 
signed  by  the  Pope;  that  this  high  dignitary  had 
sent  her  a  barrel  of  diamonds  in  1861,  that  they 


508    DEFRAUDING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

were  fraudulently  withheld  in  the  Custom  House, 
and  that  while  she  had  made  many  efforts  to  re- 
cover them  during  the  many  intervening  years, 
she  had  not  been  successful. 

I  doubt  very  much  that  the  aged  woman  will 
ever  get  them,  but  she  evidently  has  not  given  up 
hope,  for  her  letters  come  as  regularly  as  the  din- 
ner-hour. The  correspondents  of  the  Government 
are  certainly  persistent,  if  not  altogether  truthful 
and  accurate,  and  personally  I  am  of  the  opinion 
that  there  is  frequently  more  sense  in  what  the  in- 
sane ones  write  than  is  contained  in  the  pen  efforts 
of  many  others. 


THE   END 


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